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bladekindeyewear · 4 years ago

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HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-09-15

This caught me laaaate at night gosh I’m tired but I’m gonna get it outta the way so it won’t stick in my craw! Already saw the first page, so it’s time for:

> CHAPTER 13. The Funeral

Church with chess symbols at the peaks and a Prospit/Derse or Hope/Rage split color theme on the stained glass windows.

JANE: Dearly beloved...

> (==>)

Trolls, humans, and papparazzi. Oh, hm, this church is RATHER carapacian isn’t it? Between the chess and the continuing Prospit-Derse themes, like how this corresponds to how they align in the incipisphere top-left to bottom-right if I recall:

(Minus the outlying orbs to the left and right for symmetry.)

That twisted pattern is interesting, and not quite a spirograph. Is that gonna be important later? If we’re going to get some sort of class chart later in the comic, it’d be easy for them to hint at the chart’s graphical structure subtly by dropping it places like here.

JANE: Ladies... JANE: Gentlemen... JANE: News outlets... JANE: And other valued members of the Human Nation State.

Technically true, but still odd to hear-- ...oh right, I forgot this was asshole dictator-wannabe Jane, too.

I read an interesting twitter thread recently about the intense psychological distinction between wanting to BE the best, and wanting to be TREATED like you’re the best. Epilogues/HS^2 Jane is kind of written as a case study on the pitfalls of leaning on the latter instead of the former.

> (==>)

They brought Yiffy WITH them-!? --Oh right. The hostage exchange was supposed to happen here wasn’t it.

Yiffy definitely looks like a Harley-Lalonde daughter in this shot.

JANE: Gamzee Makara, High Court Jester, exalted saint of the purple veil, has left us to traverse that grand, gay carnival in the sky, where, I am told by various members of the clownly cloth, he will spend the rest of history, honking in grand tribute to the Mirthful Messiah.

SINGULAR???

Weird. Is it because Alt!Callie “won” here?

Or is Jane just forgetting because she’s culturally used to monotheism (ironically) and is insensitive.

JANE: And my first memory of our Purple Prince, was his robust codpiece--

Wow.

> (==>)

JANE: --As he offered me his friendly support, along with the sacred blood of his brethren, the holy sacrament--

He STILL killed trolls??! (EDIT: No, a friend points out that she's talking about when she met him first in Act 6 and he tried selling bottles of troll blood to her. EDIT2: -which may be another inconsistency, since Vriska supposedly overwrote that post-retcon.)

> (==>)

It takes Jake a few seconds of puzzled eye contact before he catches exactly what it is Yiffany is tossing down. In his defense, he is distracted by his wife’s speech, which is doing the emotional equivalent of wringing him out like a wet towel, before using that towel to slap the sweaty buttocks of a large, odorous man. Even if he knows everything she’s saying is a load of horsefeathers, it does nothing for his composure to hear her heap praise on that smelly, homewrecking clown.

Bad things about Gamzee deserve to be said here, yes.

Jake wonders what she’ll say about him, at his own funeral.

Now those are some uncomfortable thoughts.

He narrows his eyes in Yiffany’s direction. She’s a lovely girl, really. He wishes he could have gotten to know her under better circumstances. He’d known she existed, of course--Jane had complained about her often enough--but they’d never had much chance to get acquainted. He rather believes her and Tavvy would have been fast friends.

Then again, perhaps it’s better that she never had much of a chance to get to know his family.

He lets go of the leash.

Yep, there’s a plan to set in motion that he’s probably already discussed with her privately. Gotta unite this four-kid team after all.

> (==>)

Wait, are you ATTACKING?!? --Of course you’re attacking. You would even if the plan was something different, wouldn’t you.

JANE: And I know that at times like these it is easy to want to give in. JANE: To throw in the towel, and turn our faces away from the light of democracy and moral fortitude that we, the citizens of the human kingdom, are blessed with from birth. JANE: God knows I’ve had my own faith tested in the last few weeks.

Jesus Christ, what has she turned the place into, a fucking theocracy?

She sounds like the leader of some screwed-up, fundamentalist country! Like the United States!

*rimshot*

JANE: As many of you know, I did not grow up with the same privileges that all of you enjoy.

Jesus.

JANE: I was born on proto-Earth, that half-finished dystopia mangled by the ravages of foolish leadership and endless war.

Jesus, she really IS a self-evident takedown of hypocritical entitled political figures. With the bonuses having Jasprose explicitly ADDRESS said entitlement to make things even clearer cut.

JANE: And as for Gamzee, well, his upbringing was even worse. JANE: He was born to a violent and uncaring home, a lonely child with few natural gifts.

...Some natural gifts and status.

> (==>)

She’s just, shaking with fury here isn’t she? And about to perform an impressive corpse-lob.

JANE: It would be simple to let this disgusting, vile, SHAMEFUL act of spiteful revenge turn us away from the blinding light of the sword of justice that hangs over us all--

This sentence seems suspicious so I’m quoting it to refer to later if I need to, but is probably just platitudes.

> (==>)

JANE: Poised

> (==>)

JANE: Trembling

Okay maybe the sword’s a dick, but what exactly is Yiffany doing?? I’m finding it difficult as usual to tell between some of these image transitions.

> (==>)

JANE: Ready to burst forth--

Bad PR to shock-collar a kid mid press junket. (Very dicks description.)

> (==>)

Click. (Did they swap the shock function with Jane’s necklace somehow, that’d be fun.)

JANE: I want to give up, at times. I understand your pain.

While shocking a kid? GREAT PR.

> (==>)

JANE: I sympathize with your pain.

Wow, those horrified audience members. She REALLY can’t even see herself anymore can she? Not even hear herself. And they’re making sure this is pointed out to EVERYONE watching. They described this as in large part a PR campaign to defeat her, didn’t they?

> (==>)

Great furious businesswoman-villain look, that art.

JANE: But when that pain! Becomes too hard! To endure! JANE: Remember poor, lifeless Gamzee! Who suffered pain far worse than any of us could ever fathom! JANE: THE PAIN OF BETRAYAL!

Click click click. This is a fun sequence.

> (==>)

DIRK: Dude, didn’t you lower the voltage on that shock collar? DIRK: Little Red isn’t looking so hot. JAKE: Yes of course i did but the damn doohickys got the kick of a donkey! JAKE: I couldnt remove it completely shed know i was the one who did it! DIRK: Well, if that supervillain cuntwaffle doesn’t stop, she’s going to kill her. Not really the best at hostage management, is she.

Decent plan. (And of course Dirk would pull out the word cunt.) When’s the cavalry coming?

> (==>)

JANE: But we cannot allow his memory to be in vain! JANE: For Gamzee Makara taught us that even the most loathsome degenerate can take their place in society. JANE: All they need is the right redemption arc - !

Trying to hammer home some of the Epilogue’s trolly-critical themes a little less bleakly, I take it.

I kind of like the violent vibration in ALL of these gifs in a row. It makes the scene seem small, slow, teeth-clenching but still full of steady action, emphasizing the importance of the relatively small events from panel to panel while giving them the sense with the animation of them being [i]drawn out[/i] and tortuous instead of just “occurring”. It feels that way to me, anyway.

> (==>)

If he got up alive here, that’d be hilarious. (Presumably he’s been treated and done-up like a normal funeral body, not “dormant” and undecaying like a dead god-tier.)

> (==>)

CORPSE PUNT w/ CLEATS

> (==>)

That face is just. I love that face.

> (==>)

SHE MAD

JANE: Young lady, I am just about at the end of my rope with you. JANE: Throw all the dog bowls you want at the walls of my warship. JANE: But don’t you dare act up in front of a JANE: Live JANE: Fucking JANE: Newsfeed! YIFFY: Grrrrrr

What did you expect to happen? Do you expect to shout her down from this, Jane?

JANE: After everything I’ve done for you--paying for your education, helping your parents cover up your existence from the world! JANE: Just imagine what Rose and Jade would say if they could see you now, even dissidents can have a little decorum! JANE: Get down from there at once! YIFFY: Grrrrrr

But this is GAMZEE. --I guess it’s seriously disrespectful to his followers, though. Still. If you wanted civility from her, a shock collar, leash, and food bowl wasn’t the way to go about it.

JANE: Don’t you threaten me, young lady. Not today! YIFFY: GRRRRRRRRR

What is your PLAN even, Jane? You’ve completely disregarded her.

JANE: There’s nowhere for you to go. My agents are swarming this church. Be reasonable, Yiffany. JANE: Ugh. JANE: Disgusting name. JANE: But that’s hardly your fault. You were always just a footnote. Your parents’ little prank. JANE: Honestly, that’s why I helped them all those years ago! I do love a good jape. JANE: But let’s be serious. JANE: You don’t matter. If you did, they would have come for you already.

Can all the press hear her being such an asshole?

Okay, stereotypically, their arrival should be the next couple panels:

> (==>)

Jake, do something useful like hoping harder.

> (==>)

And she knocks the remote away. Excellent.

And she does. Seemingly at the end of her tolerance for insults toward her name, social status, and heritage, Yiffy performs an impressive backflip off the podium and down onto the church floor. One that, if it hadn’t been happening amidst a sea of other newsworthy events, would surely have ended up on someone’s instagram story within thirty seconds. She gives Gamzee’s corpse one last parting kick: a hard, proper kick that proves those cleats aren’t just for fashion. Although they are certainly also for fashion.

Good, good.

He vanishes into the seething crowd, and we are confident that we will never have to deal with this asshole ever again.

God damnit.

> (==>)

Jake watches this from a safe distance, poised on the edge of intervening to pull Yiffy out of there. But in the end he doesn’t have to. Instead he watches in admiration as she tears the place to utter shreds. An echoing sympathy swells inside of him as she rends apart the funeral flowers and punts Gamzee into the shrieking congregation. Here is a girl who felt the cold, indecent hand of fate wrapping around her, and instead of submitting to it and slowly sublimating down into morasse of boiled doormat, she slapped it away from her with a lively oh, no thank you.

All at once, Jake feels immense affection for his granddaughter. He hopes the two of them can make up for lost time.

Lessons belatedly learned, but learned nonetheless.

> (==>)

JANE: Enough of this. JANE: Seize her!

Kind of Red Queen of you. (Are those stained glass windows in back of the frame about to burst?)

> (==>)

Yep.

The stained glass window shatters inward, obliterated to stardust. The war is knocking.

Even attacking a disgusting faith’s church is pretty bad form, though.

Tired and busy, seeya next upd8. <3

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #upd8 #Homestuck^2 #spoiler #spoilers

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safflowerseason · 5 years ago

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veep rewatch - 3.02

Season Three, Episode Two - The Choice

aka - The One Where Dan Gets Seasick

(It seems like a good time to begin this series again...)

Gary, to himself in the mirror: …When did you get your dad’s face?

LOL at Dan telling Richard not to be cute.

Gary: Ma’am, instead of doing all this pre-campaigning, sometime in the next 24 hours, you grab a mic, you say, "I'm Selina Meyer and I'm running for President of the United States!” *beat* Selina: I’m just gonna use the bathroom really quick.

Kelly: This definitely does not do video. Amy: Then what were you doing?! (I just think it’s hilarious the way Anna Chlumsky delivers this little line…that perfect outraged bemusement.)

Hahahaha Dan gets so seasick. He’s so terrible I don’t even feel sorry for him. (This also means his S2 line about power-boating on Lake Erie is now irrelevant, which is fine because I think this is a more hilarious canon fact about Dan.)

Wendy, about Jonah: Look who I found in a basket on our front door.

What the hell is Jonah wearing in this scene. What is that terrible cardigan. What is that T-shirt he is wearing underneath. What.

Criminal: Hey, I voted for you! Selina: Thank you very much, sir! But I’m afraid you have to go to prison!

The chaotic scene on the boat, with everyone yelling and speaking over one another about POTUS’s announcement is quite well done, reminiscent of the scene in the kitchen during Helsinki (another great Selina-Amy-Gary-Dan group scene.)

Ben: Ma'am, I swear to God, we all thought he was gonna just eat some shrimp, rattle off a few platitudes, go home, watch Full Metal Jacket for the millionth time and fall asleep.

Amy: Has POTUS gone nuts? We can’t have a crazy president. Gary: In Italy they do. (Heh.)

Selina: I can't identify myself as a woman! People can't know that! Men hate that. And women who hate women hate that, which, I believe, is most women, don't you agree with that?

Dan: I swear to God, I felt better on the fucking boat.

Dan: And as vice president, here's your choice, two doors, pro-choice, pro-life. That’s it. Selina:…Is there a third door? Amy: What, like a woman's door? Dan *scornful*: A back door? No.

Lots of little physical comedy bits in this episode…Dan being sick on the boat, Selina and the bathroom door, Richard and Kelli getting tangled up in the phone lines….Most of these bits require really coordinated dialogue as well, characters speaking over one another at the exact right moment…I feel like this kind of really specific and technical scene work went away in the later seasons, in favor of the characters just screaming outsized insults at one another. Which is a bit sad, because these scenes are so superbly done, and all of the actors involved really get to show off their technical skills as well as their mastery of the dialogue.

There’s an argument to be made that the premise of this episode is not super realistic. I suppose it’s plausible that a lame-duck outwardly liberal but still old-white-male POTUS might reveal he has a more conservative view on the timeline for abortion. What’s less plausible is that Selina’s response requires completely rethinking her views on the topic, or that she’s run for high constitutional office in the United States without articulating a clear stance on the issue. The whole “what’s Selina’s position?!” drama is a bit over-blown. Why doesn’t she just reaffirm whatever her stance is? (I guess that is kind of what she ends up doing, by rehashing the book). And the notion that she could reverse her previous position to something more conservative that aligns with POTUS’s views does not actually make any sense politically, considering Selina’s party and her hopes for the future…like presumably POTUS has also pissed off other members of his liberal party? And he’s a lame duck POTUS anyway. Who cares?

However, I think this is an example where it’s fine that a show about politics does not hold up to perfect realist scrutiny, because it still makes for a great episode of television where we see Selina really wrestle with her identity as Veep and as a female politician, and we get to dive deep into the stakes of a “controversial” political issue (in quotations because it shouldn’t be controversial) and watch how the team deals with it.

Jonah: I’m going to be updating more than I'm actually dating…which is a shitload. I think in the BMTL universe, Jonah resurrects Ryantology and his unhinged videos are part of how he wins the presidency. This kind of aggressive-direct-to-the-people-straight-talk-cut-through-the-bullshit rhetoric is exactly how Trump appeals to his base (even though it’s not at all true that it’s “real”), and is certainly more interesting politically than Jonah advancing as a politician because he’s racist and sexist and hates vaccines.

Kent and Sue begin their hilariously robotic flirting in this episode.

Selina’s got so many great lines in this scene about gender politics and the politics of abortion, all of which I would put on a coffee mug or a t-shirt. “Get the government out of my fucking snatch.” “If men got pregnant, you could get an abortion at an ATM.” “As a woman, I am not gonna put in a fuckin’ sentence ‘As a woman…’ I am not putting my eggs in that basket.” “This is about access to safe abortions for vulnerable women.”

Read alongside one another, these lines illustrate how conflicted she is, not about abortion, but about her identity as a female politician and in turn, how that identity is perceived by the public to influence her political choices and views. She doesn’t want to be a labeled as a feminist political warrior, but she is still clearly passionate enough about women’s issues enough to try and figure out a way to articulate her views without sacrificing her political future—a future that depends on the support of old, white men.

Costume-wise, Amy stands out among the ensemble in another turquoise green dress (I am very into her snakesin heels). This one is a wrap dress that is a bit darker than her dress for Mike’s wedding. Selina is wearing a black top and a red skirt, in a not-so-subtle nod to her struggle over what to say in public about abortion. Dan’s and Mike’s ties both have red in them. Unusually, nothing in Amy’s outfit really links her to Selina or to Dan.

Selina: Well, he fucking fudged it. Now we know he’s running for President, that stupid bastard.

Dan’s meltdown is very well done by Reid Scott. This season, he really brings out Dan’s more intense side, highlighting his obsessive and neurotic qualities that we don’t normally see (because Dan keeps them buried) and adding this slightly unhinged edge to the character. At the same time, he emphasizes how Dan struggles to keep up the usual facade that everything is easy for him. In the previous episode, we even saw a flash of Dan’s crazy eyes. I simply don’t understand how Mandel watched Dan’s arc in S3 and came to the conclusion that this character didn’t really care about anything except money and sex. All Dan cares about in this season is winning, to the point where he actually self-destructs. It will be really fun to observe how the writers and RS play out Dan’s journey with this rewatch.

Amy to Dan: Go home. Take an Ambien. Take fifty!

Ben: I’m going home, and if anyone needs me…I don’t care.

Poor Gary in this episode. He fails so hard at trying to be an actual political strategist.

Dan: Hey you, Ugly Betty, give me that burrito! Jonah: Don’t just give it to him, dude!

“This is what happens when you fuck with my office!” Dan literally is seconds from beating up Jonah in this scene…his dangerous side on full display here. Part of me wishes we saw more of this super macho physical enforcer Dan, but at the same time, I do think it’s a bit jarring compared to Veep’s regular tone as a show. (It also makes you wonder what Dan’s breaking point is, when it comes to physical violence.)

Selina: Well, I said nothing…a big, fat, morbidly obese nothing.

#veep rewatch #veep season three #3.02 #the choice #selina meyer #amy brookheimer #dan egan #veep style #jonah ryan #gary walsh #get the government out of my fuckin' snatch

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anthonybialy · 5 years ago

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Bumbling Rumble

Women's wrestling champion of the world Andy Kaufman couldn't have planned a more hilarious presidency. The problem is Donald Trump may be serious. All evidence indicates he truly believes he's a heavyweight champion. McDonald's makes reaching the division easy.

A slapfest between NBA players who've never thrown a combined punch in their lives doesn't make for thrilling bouts. The unpleasant president squaring off against the repulsive media is the Iran-Iraq War of politics without the fun explosions.

Our tough guy executive spars with foes who couldn't do a chin-up. It's even in its way. Trump is Eric Cartman as the Coon attacking someone sitting in the park and pretending he stopped an assault.

The self-proclaimed top puncher won't fight for real. Trump's pattern of running his mouth when it was safe to talk tough only became clear about 30 years before he ran for the presidency. I'm sure there's no reason to verify if someone's as muscular as claimed, especially for a politician. The fact it took him so long to join the club is supposed to be an argument for him.

There are real victims of not backing up reputation. Hong Kong is getting shoved around by one of the globe's most brutish regimes, and Trump will gallantly fight back by slapping tariffs on them someday, too.

Making Americans pay more for Chinese goods will really teach us a lesson. At least Obamacare still hasn't been repealed. Plus, the tough bastard bravely refuses to do anything about entitlements that'll doom those who weren't born Fred Trump's son.

Ignoring a problem makes it disappear according to an inspirational leader. You'd think the best businessman ever would be able to diagnose an awful deal and sell Americans on saving for their own retirements instead of letting an entity connected to Nancy Pelosi squander it. And it took true bravery to start bitching about the wall as soon as his ostensible party was in the congressional minority.

Moaning about injustice is sure to remedy it. Of course the media's comprised of pathetic shills for the losing side of the Cold War. The profession teems with self-styled intellectuals who are so stupid that they majored in journalism. But it's something to not let ruin one's perception.

Adults presume life's unfair in general and in this case particularly. Stenographer pinkos are so consumed with changing the world they forget to do their actual tasks, which involve recording what interesting people do. So, do good work and let voters see that instead of the improper classification. Trump considers bitching part of his job.

The embarrassment of whining that people are mean to you should have sunk in by sophomore year of high school. Humans should expect teasing, especially those in particular who become Earth's most powerful person. Pouting is undignified for any adult, especially one with this job. Even more so, an executive who's spent a lifetime spent lucking into promotions naturally doesn't feel grateful. Trump is technically presidential.

But what about not throwing tantrums? The sort of people who believed Mitt Romney was out to ban tampons still wonder how they ended up with Donald freaking Trump. Either way, we end up with liberals who think every Republican is a murderous demonic racist out to cancel lovely insurance for personal amusement. Elizabeth Warren could switch parties like she tried with ethnicities, and suddenly she'd be a heartless orphan-kicker.

Has anyone been convinced by a Trump tweet? Even the moments where he pleasantly surprises by uttering something correct don't change minds. Take how he supposedly imposed a Muslim ban did just that except for the part how it didn't ban Muslims. Nobody was swayed by his shrieking about unfair coverage. George W. Bush wouldn't have kvetched and gotten the same result. But he fights!

An aggrieved leader's kvetching has convinced precisely zero voters. His fervent cultists treat anything he utters as prophecy as self-appointed enemies won't hear him out on the rare occasion he's accurate. The undercard is similarly dull.

Battling for truth would be easier if his grasp on reality were more than tenuous. Trump is so busy explaining how everyone against him is a mean bully that he doesn't have time to research his claims. They're undoubtedly winners.

Write off the idiots. There are always going to be suckers. On top of that, the most deluded are convinced everyone else is gullible. Pompous dolts who think they're informed after skimming a headline or hearing Jimmy Kimmel's enthralling take on compassion aren't going to be convinced by Trump's truculence.

The real answer to the question of media bias lies in winning the culture. Fight the problem at the source instead of waiting for it to pollute all the way downstream. We've forgot Andrew Breitbart's lessons, which is unfortunately easy to do considering the site with his name on it degenerated into a doughy pale pride site.

Do what's right and trust truth to win out. It's tough when mendacious zombies slime you. But if the media truly bites it as much as suspected, the one way to not help is sinking to their level. Whining others are being unfair is as undignified as it is ineffective.

You'd think a president concerned about fake news be worried about accuracy himself. That doesn't exonerate his target. The mendacious press shrieking at an exhausting president is what would happen if the Red Sox could play the Patriots. You don't have to align with either group of fiendish ghouls.

Are you genuflecting to a blithering phony or do you want the socialists to burn the Constitution with a lit flag? The lame binary choice applied to everything just makes a supposed brawl that much more of a letdown. Use your nails!

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survivemiddleearth · 6 years ago

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Rites of Passage

Crow- Bruh. I thought we were going to be friends/allies in this game but then I hear you were telling the entire tribe how I was not to be trusted and as much as you mock me for my lack of a social game, it sure saved me there! But still love ya and hope things have gotten better, and hey, maybe you were smart for targeting me from the start :P

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmc21V-zBq0

Roxy- runaway with me noww oh its come away with me fuck

Dylan- king of first boot

Well mine was short lol. but I think Crow has played an amazing game and def deserves this dub :)

Crow- Although I personally trusted you, you were just unfortunately the outsider from the start and with having proof of Drew/Zach sparing me, I didn't want to risk reaching my neck out for you and getting labeled as trying to play both sides. You were robbed though, it was just because our tribe was so garbage at comps...

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2WWrupMBAE

Roxy- We didn’t meet in this game

Dylan- king of second boot

Crow- Legendary flop! You were hilarious and completely messy and if there's any way to bond with me, it's that. Unfortunately flops are always targeted for some reason pre-merge (maybe cuz they wreck their tribe average??? no shade, but) but I would have KILLED for your commentary from post-merge onwards cuz I felt completely alone being the only one constantly hogging the spotlight :/

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfHHv7yOYX0

Roxy- skinny legend

Dylan- you would have killed the lip syncing comp but these losers flipped the vote

Aah, what a fun time I had during this game (from the little I remember). I still would like to say it was a wonderful tribal, 8-0? wow so great. COuldn’t do it without people hating me <3 jkjk. Anyways! It was fun while it lasted and hopefully was fun for everyone that was in it too.

Crow- Okay, truth be told, I really thought you were like the social queen of your tribe but when tribal came around and people said your name, I felt powerless, as the only person from Pikachu, to try and sway it, and especially when you seemed okay with it. Thank you for having a graceful exit, not many people can do that nowadays....

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CID-sYQNCew

Roxy- http://sketchtoy.com/68755176

Dylan- queen of having crazy fast internet. accepted her defeat which was iconic

This game seemed very fun and I loved the opportunity to play, I wish I didn’t get so busy so I could’ve backstabbed Roxy like I planned. Ah well. Congrats on getting so far I hope the game was fun for you all!

Crow- I know I'm a big reason why you were cut just shy of merge but it was more of a move to solidify Sammy/Johnny (and supposed to be Eric...) and break apart the potential trio I saw in you, Roxy, and Dennis (I mean, now I'm sitting next to both of them in f4 so can't say I regret it :P ) You were a very intelligent, brash guy and I hope you know that your placement was not indicative of your game. Hope the novel turns out well!

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1tAYmMjLdY

Roxy- MY AUSSIE BUDDY UGH/ I wonder how this game wouldve gone with you here. You were fun to talk to and play with and i loved chatting about the shows we both loved together/

Dylan- king of being blindsided. second season where I watched you get blindsided from a different tribe.

Crow- Thank god you didn't try in this game. I didn't even want to get into the ring with you again and go for Round 3. Thanks for making this one easy :P

Dennis- You freaking stole my tom bombadil to just be inactive -.-

Roxy- L

Dylan- making it to merge without doing anything ? queen

That damn bitch Beyoncé got me again huh. I swore I wouldn't let her after last time but she always has to have the last word. Thank god she's been outed as a satanic black witch!!! Thank you to the brave former drummer for walking in the light and exposing her depravity. I will expect my reparations settlement money in the mail.

Crow- Okay I literally feel so bad like comforting you in that round but know that I was completely blindsided by it myself so I really hope that wasn't misunderstood as me trying to make sure you were blindsided asghsgsho but thanks for taking the bullet then! Love a good shiel- bodyguard.

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdCslA8xs98

Roxy- nnnn I remember when I saw you in merge I was hyper excited to play with you. I never really allied with you or met you in games so finally getting to play with you finally a familiar face from your tribe was refereshing and welcoming. I told you to f2 me or im quitting lmfao. That lasted long ... rdfc Your vote off was a mess of flipping multiple names thrown and idols. I feel like we drifted during the day or 2 leading up to the tribal and we didn't really talk game that round which was sad. I really wanted to have you as a clsoe allly that game but it ended up the way it did since I saw jg as a closer ally.

Dylan- literally actually the most robbed person in this entire game. you were missed

This game was pretty fun. All of the people I was close to voting me out and losing on a twist was pretty shitty. I’d just never do these challenges ever again. :P

Crow- You're honestly just a mess. P.S. My beard is now gone because of you.

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRh_vgS2dFE

Roxy- hahah hi hi johnny. “Daddy”. You are always a great blast to play with even though we have yet to truly get somewhere together. ALthough in hos we were close it was just a diverging of end game interests that tore us apart. I remember the jokes we made about applying for this org. I had no idea when I was applying that I would make it this far and when I applied for you as a joke haha. My biggest regret is not telling you about the vote and what was going down. Our relationship this game was sort of foggy but it was great while it lsted.

Dylan- voted for me but you’re so lovable

Crow- We were never on a pre-merge tribe together, then you made the big-ass move to blindside Drew at the first vote (without telling me, which no hard feelings) so when it came down to our mini-tribe's tribal, I felt like it was too little too late for both of us to try and make something happen together? I'd say we just fell on opposite sides rather than being enemies. But I hope you've been watching because I know you're an analytical guy who's obsessed with Survivor so I would love to hear your input as a juror.

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YShWLjj1TO0

Roxy- UGH SO ROBBED!!! We had so much potential to play a fun game together but the unmerge robbed us of that T_T im glad we got to play together for one round at least

Dylan- you and I have a lot in common, we both put our trust in the wrong person.

Hey y’all! This was game was fun and fresh and I did better than last time so I definitely achieved my goal! There really wasn’t anything shady going on until the night I left and I’m sure that was aired out so I have nothing to spill. Tbh I was just bored and wanted to be messy and have fun. It was a fun last night! I had a great time playing with everyone and good luck to the final 4!

Crow- Truth be told, I really didn't see myself voting you out so soon. I thought we were working together, sorta, but it always felt like you had better allies? Which I don't fault you for, I know I was not the most critical ally, for like, anyone in this game, but that's purely the reason I decided to vote you out over Eric. I might regret it though since Eric pretty much shunned me from there on out and I know you would've really appreciated me saving you.....but it is what it is. (also you didn't swipe on my tinder so im kinda insulted but dats fine!)

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM

Roxy- Hey zach!! You seem like a really sweet person. We didn’t really hit if off and we never clicked together. WE had different allies and diff groups so us allyining was never really an option. I recon its just how the game unfolded and you were loyal to your allies while i was to mine and i respect you for that despite the mess of how you left.

Dylan- why didn’t you give me the legacy idol. I’m kidding I would’ve misused it

I really didn’t know what I was getting into here, and I REALLY liked it!! Who knew performing arbitrary semi-public tasks with complete strangers could be so much fun? I wish each of you the best, in the game and out of it. May Manwë smile upon those who walk the world; may Mandos rule with steady hand those who rest in his hall.

Crow- Literally, you were the only one I was just like, hey, he's probably not going to lie to me. And so it's ironic that we also never talked game other than the casual vote here and then....you were a very interesting person though so I wish I hadn't got caught up in the game as much and really tried to connect with you as a person, and for that, I take the blame.

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-1RPDqJAY

Roxy- Ford!! When I first saw you in the scvanger hunt I asked "are you single ?" nnn you seem like a cool dude and you were fun to play with despite the fact we never really talkde game and we werent really aligned this game/ I still promised you to be honest to you and I think i pulled through on that. It was amazing fun to play with you and i hope you luck in yoru studies.

Dylan- you were amazing sweetie as a newbie you made it so far omg

Hey guys! Like I said before I quit, I have no regrets about the game and how I played it. If I stuck around the community I would have loved to be friends with all of you! Best of luck to you all and may the best player win!

Crow- Hope everything is okay in your real life and I hope you were never offended by anything I did or said. I completely understand your game decisions and you don't ever need to apologize for them. You were a chaotic mess, but genuine and real, so you have my respect. You also proved what I've always thought you were (even back in Great Lakes) as a really go-getter type of player.

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrcMMyNeJJs

Roxy- rip gl with life

Dylan- I loved how we found middle ground during the F7.

hiii yes i don’t have much to say. i had a blast and made some amazing friends and just goofed off a lot. No hard feelings, you are all icons...I’m rooting for one of you but i wish you all good luck!

Crow- Okay I love you as a person, but like, you also betrayed me for no reason so I'm a little confused as to why or how we stand now, but just know that whatever your reasons for doing so, it doesn't change how I see you as a person. And even through my bitterness in the betrayal, I will admit, you didn't deserve to go out like that.

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSvFpBOe8eY

Roxy- Sammy!! Weve had a very varied ride in our org careers and this game was no exception/ I feel like timezones really got to us this time round and early on our games diverged when I tried to save stephen and you tried to save Eric. During merge and then unmerge i think you bonded more with jay and that tribe so we never really played as allies. Howveer i think the way you left did not give you justice. Jay letting you get idoled out after you were one of the few who stuck with her and then her quitting just because people were voting her out. You did NOT deserve that. And I was honestly mad at jay for doing you dirty.

Dylan- cirie who ? Jay shoulda used that idol on you you were the second most robbed queen

Crow- Well, I had your back. I knew of multiple of your misdeeds in previous rounds and I think you knew that? But game-wise we were very compatible in playing styles (not similar, but definitely compatible - you were the strategic one, I was the......other...one) so although your exit was less than glorious for me, I do hope you find comfort in your gameplay and know that you were really impactful on the game, for better or worse.

Dennis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXzDu071RdQ

Roxy- nnnnnn she snapt

Dylan- there’s not enough space to describe anything but the takeaway is that I hope you know that like I actually genuinely care about your well being

We just want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who came to have fun and played to their fullest extent. Jo and I have worked on this game for months and like we’ve said all along: the goal for this was for everyone to have fun in the chaos and the world of LOTR and Survivor combined. There’s a lot of drama and toxicity in the org community and in the world right now and if this game provided you with any sort of reprieve from either that’s all we could ever hope for. We hope you had a great time, we know we did, and we want to reiterate again: thank you all for bringing this game to life and for participating. Good luck to our final 4!

Love,

Olivia and Joanna <3

#outwitoutplayoutrunthewitchking

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survivor-tierradelfuego · 4 years ago

Text

Ep. 9: “If you’re not on top, you’re on the bottom & getting played” - Maddison

Maddison

I made the merge!!! Let’s gooo baby!

Aimee

I cannot believe me the oldest person made it to merge! I’m still shaking a little bit to be honest. Haha I always see those reality tv shows where the oldest person is the first boot. Haha and I know there are other 30 year olds but this feels special to me.

Yay merge! This lady is gonna kick it into high gear, hopefully the alliances I made and the friendships I have started help me to get far but we will see what the future brings 🌅

Olivia A.

I’m excited for merge but not sure if we’ll able to get numbers together and have a majority.

Grae G

We do be merging.... OG maola is in mini Priya so I will be spending every spare moment working my ass off to try and make as many OG Hanuha bonds as possible...

Najwah

While I'm happy to have made it to merge, I'm actually really sad about James. I've never been this sad about losing anyone in this game before. We started off never having had a one on one chat but we just had each others backs from day one. Stuck it out. Fought together. We spoke on a video call earlier and it was the most easiest conversation ever. He was genuine and kind and I wish him everything of the best in this life. He deserves so many good things. My heart is sore. I didn't want to be here with Amy. She's unresponsive and I don't really trust her. But she told me she had a steal a vote and she wanted to give it to me before tribal because it could be used post merge. And then, she changed her mind like 15 minutes before tribal she was like no this game is a distraction for me and I want to use it tonight. And it was either going to be James or me. She was in a position of power. I think she chose to vote James out coz she has previously stated that he is good at challenges. She wants to have a secret alliance with me. I agreed to it just so that I could be. Kept in the game by her I guess. I have no intention to betray other people I am in an alliance with. Idk. I'm just still shocked. I actually cried about it on a call with Cody earlier. Cody also told me that since day 1 Ben and Zack have been bitching about me voting James out and turning on James and weakening Hanúha Tribe alliance. Like? What? I'm so annoyed. Not once have I even considered voting out James. We had a good thing going. He's just one of the best people in this game and I honestly wish he was. Here. I'm not in the mood for these two faced assholes who only care about themselves.

Pedro A

im scared ..this can change the whole game

Sarah

AHHH, it’s Merge time! I’m so excited that I, along with most of my alliance, made it to Merge. Definitely sad about James being voted out at the last vote since he was one of my closest allies in the game but thanks for giving me coins and helping me get the idol James! 😊 Maybe Amy has put a target on her back after playing steal a vote and can be an “easy” first vote for the majority of people on our new tribe. Well, there was definitely a lot to catch up on in a week and I talked with Cody for quite awhile last night and he filled me in. He let me know that Ben confided in him and said he didn’t trust Zack fully either. Cody of course hasn’t completely trusted Zack this whole game so at some point, I’m sure everyone will vote out Zack. But for now, our alliance and former Hanuha tribe is staying strong. Like I’ve said, I feel like Cody and I are in one of the best positions in the game because of our connections with so many others. Aimee feels close to me, Najwah feels close to Cody, and Ben and Zack feel close to us. I have also had some communication with Grae and feel like I can talk with her. I do think there is an alliance between Grae, Maddison, Olivia, and maybe Amy though. This next challenge and tribal will be interesting for sure with a 6/6 tribe split.

Olivia A

At the moment it feels like we’re in the minority (with Pedro still mad abt the John vote) but with this idol and the plan to get everyone to target Pedro I feel like we can get in a good place again. And then convincing people to turn on Zack will hopefully not be too hard.

Maddison

It seems like the boys from original Hanuha are coming after me... and there is nothing I hate more than men chasing me. Time to bring down the hammer. :) I found an idol today thanks to the help of my lovely Rox the Sox alliance. I’m happy to have it in my possession but I’m also ready to use it for whomever in my alliance may need it. I wouldn’t have found it without them anyways.

Amy A

Made the merge 🎉🎉🎉🎉. Can’t say it has been an easy road. Almost voted out last night. Even though that was not even remotely gonna happen cos ‘Steal-a-vote’. So, definitely happy to be here but sad that I lost my advantage. Also, my alliance with Najwah seems pretty solid. I hope she isn’t just saying stuff to me just to gain my trust and then break it. I absolutely trust her. Even beyond the game. I feel like I can actually talk to her. Let’s go merge!!! Amy A. So, lies. I feel like this should be my little confessional to keep track of my lies cos 😂😂😂😂😂😂 it’s so damn hilarious to ME. I don’t even have a cat but I feel like people seem you as more trustworthy when you have a pet. I also think Grae believes I’m not aligned with Najwah cos I told her I had a mini bond w James instead. This is really entertaining.

Zack M

"well, i got it." - valerie cherish, the comeback and by it i mean the merge. i'm here. i've accomplished what i wanted to do. now my goal is to make it to top 10. baby steps. but i feel like i'm going to be the first person voted out tbh. something is off with my tribe. the only person i feel like i can actually trust at the moment is najwah. we had like a 2 hour video call last night and compared notes. apparently cody also tried to buy the necklace with her. i'm like 89% positive that him and sarah have the idol. i really wanted to go to final two with him but 1. i don't see me making 2. if i do, i don't think i can fully trust him. it's obvious he is running around talking to everyone and it's starting to get messy. anyways, i think i will be voted out first because it's clear the maola girls are working together. maddison, grae, olivia, amy, kalle all need someone to vote out. why not the guy who was the "tribe leader" at the swap. there may be some hope IF pedro stays loyal and votes with the hanuha tribe but that would also mean that aimee and sarah have to stay with us. aimee apparently told pedro she's been on the bottom which isn't a lie but like why aimee? *face palm* if hanuha stays strong and pedro votes with us then it will be 7 /5 and i should be safe. i would like to pretend to vote amy out (#Justice4James) because i feel like alan may have gave her the idol, if they actually had one like rumor suggests. she plays the idol ... we flush it ... and take out maddison or grae. that would be dream scenario. but who knows what is going to happen with this auction coming up. stay tuned.

Olivia A

Pedro A

OKay so kalle basically said...."I've been on the bottom since the John vote lol....I just don't know who I can try to connect or reconnect with at this point"...so she doesnt trust them anymore....which is nice...and i kinda believe her..considering they didnt pick her to be in the swap tribe...which honestly was a mistake......Grae and Maddison..im coming for you...karma is a bitch

Pedro A

im talking with najwah...i kinda wanna know about her relationship with amy...cause amy is a snake gURL...But i feel like its too early on to ask that...but im watching you GURL

Pedro A

lets just hope we dont self destruct...cause then we will be devoured by the habuha. tribe

Olivia A

Checked in with Aimee and she’s seeming iffy about the original Hanuha people and is still interested in working with me! This is very good news :) If we get Pedro our next and Aimee sticks w us then we’ll have the numbers 6-5.

Kalle N

This first tribal is going to be a gigantic mess. Pedro now says he trusts me and asked me really nicely to not lie to him bc he's sick of being lied to, and it just made me feel really bad. I think rox the sox is still planning on voting Pedro but if I feel like I genuinely have him on my side, I could maybe try to get our alliance to vote for someone else like Zack or Ben. Ben really wants to take out Maddison or Grae but idk how much I want to rely on Ben.

Pedro

i honestly feel like i noone is being truthfull to me

Pedro A

Honestly im scared...at this point..i just want to make it into the top 10

Pedro A

one step at a time

Olivia A.

For this challenge I’m paired with Cody. I’m not really excited about it. I don’t have anything against him but I’ve never interacted w this man before and I don’t want to help him get immunity! He seems rly nice and funny I just feel like it’s gonna be awkward and also I have 0 ideas. Doesn’t rly matter though bc we’re not planning on targeting him so if he does get immunity it’s whatever. 🤷🤷

Pedro A

Is this a jokkeeee..I'm with graeeeee .....I'm so unlucky...I'm honestly doneeee..like wtf...what did I do to deserve this ass...gods please help..

Kalle N

I don't know if you're familiar with the show New Girl or not, but it's my favorite show of all time and I'm going to use an example from it to explain how I feel. In New Girl, Nick Miller once said "I'm so sick of the lying... and the manipulating .. and the out-manipulating". I'm lying and holding so much different info from different people and groups of people that my brain is going to explode. Can't wait to see what Aimee will be like but oof this is getting crazy

Olivia A

I take back what I said Cody’s vibes are immaculate 🤠

Aimee

Haha I’m an idiot. I just sat there at the auction staring at the void. I think I’m still so shook I made it to merge that I just stare into the blankness instead of doing anything. Dang, I wish I would of gotten that envelope. I need that extra vote man. I don’t want that extra going to the Suite life of Zack and Cody. I feel like they are still a big threat to my game even if we are being friendly right now. I don’t necessarily believe in this old Hanuha strong alliance. I’m skeptical, the game of survivor is so complex and I don’t want to play this simple, it has burned me before. With this immunity challenge for me Kalle would be a simple vote to get out now. But now I have to work with her to get immunity. Damn. We will see how this goes. Your lady is gonna to try her best no matter what. No throwing challenges here , in this house.

Zack M

literally fml. i didn't get anything the auction which i don't care about tbh. but now it's our first INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE but we have to work in pairs. individual immunity challenge .... in pairs. i know. seems like kindergarten knowledge that we would work alone but like whatever. i'm partners with amy. she fucked over najwah and james. i hear she doesn't respond and she didn't even complete the last challenge. i guess i will be doing this alone. flashback to high school when i did all the group projects. this is kind of mean. amy could be a sweetheart of a person. she's been nothing but nice to me. and i did reach out to her this morning because her facial expressions during tribal do crack me up. so if you read this amy, know that my frustration isn't with you personally ... it's how you've played the game so far from what i've been able to see. + that our first individual immunity challenge isn't individual at all. whatever.

Sarah

FUCCKK. I didn’t buy anything in the auction except for a ticket with the VL (which I’m honestly thrilled about that). I definitely thought there would be 10 items, I learned my Survivor auction lesson.... So much has happened in the past hour I- Cody got an extra vote which he told me and then we discussed whether we should tell the whole group or not. I encouraged him to share it because it would keep our Hanuha tribe from getting paranoid at this first vote if they knew we had that advantage. We don’t want Zack to get paranoid and flip... So. Zack messaged Cody about Najwah sharing with him about what the necklace meant. Zack said that the necklace had to be used with an idol and would be like a super idol that can be played after the votes are read. But if Naj holds on to it, she gets a 5% disadvantage each week. Najwah didn’t message Cody about it and he was hurt and didn’t know if he could trust her. Cody asked Najwah and at first she said it was just a cursed necklace with a disadvantage and then later shared with him about using it with an idol. So we have no idea what is the truth and if Zack and Naj are closer than we think... but Zack literally wanted to vote Naj out so I have NO idea what to think anymore. I’m also worried that James shared with Naj he had shared 5 coins with me because they got close and now she may think I have an idol.... asdfghjkl. Cody also wants to start a group of 3 with Ben, him, and I but we don’t know if that will expose Cody and I and if Ben would share that with Zack. Sooo much uncertainty. Merge is CRAZY.

Grae G

Pedros my partner which sucks for him bc of my disadvantage :///

Najwah

I'm so happy about having Sarah as a partner in this challenge. Also awesome that I'm able to give people a 10% advantage. So Amy and I are secretly chatting. Initially I was ready to just blindside her and get her out but she's giving me the tea from the inside lmao and we are sharing ideas and hyping each other up and I love that. Pedro started talking to me too and we kinda connected. I told Amy the 10% in giving is for her and Zack and I'm telling Zack it's because I don't want to give Maddison, Grae or Olivia an advantage so Ben and Cody don't benefit from my advantage either. Aimee, Sarah, Zack, Amy and I do however and these are all people I'm willing to work with in the future. I have to play this very carefully. I THINK people trust me right now, but I suspect they're extremely weary. I don't want to be messy so I am sticking to Hanúha, Amy African Queen alliance and I'll listen and entertain Pedro if he wants to talk. He just needed to vent and I really think he's a genuine person. Not sure what he's going to be like now that he's working with someone he "Hates" and is "dead to him" yep my guy is hella dramatic. I feel for him though, I do. It's a game of survivor yes but the constant lying and betrayal affects one psychologically. It's important to still treat each other like humans and be kind. I feel okay right now. I think I'm in an okay position right now.

Olivia A

I take back what I said Cody’s vibes are immaculate 🤠

Sarah

Cody, Ben, and I formed a three person alliance tonight and I honestly feel really good about it. Cody and I were worried that it might expose Cody and I’s closeness but we both really trust Ben and want to talk through things and work with him. Ben brought up the point of causing chaos at the first tribal so the former Maola tribe can play advantages/idols and we can flush some of them out. I think that will be a good plan. We will get more information tomorrow and then make a decision when we go to tribal. I still haven’t told Ben about my idol yet and I feel like I may but I just want to make sure sure sure that he wouldn’t tell anyone else... After talking with Ben, Cody and I called for another hour and seriously, our friendship goes beyond this game. It’s so crazy how someone can become your best friend in a couple weeks. We obviously want to get to final three/two together and don’t care about voting each other out (if there was a million dollars up for grabs yeah I would want to vote Cody out 😂). We want to go down as the best dynamic duo.

Pedro A

really GRAE an disadvantge??????....CHILLLLEEEEE....my luck...im literally so unlucky.....anyways lets try to win either way Im so not confidente about this challenge and about the next tribal jeez...this will be a long ride

Cody A

https://youtu.be/cAF4L9RNlHg

Pedro A

me and grae did fine.....i really liked our ideia....i hope the judges like it too......IM SO NERVOUS...after this challenge chilllee...IT WILL be a mess

Olivia A

I’m excited for merge but not sure if we’ll able to get numbers together and have a majority.

Olivia A

Working with Cody on this challenge was a lot of fun!! We’re not in the same alliance but if I’m in a position where I do need to strategically work with him later on I’m confident that won’t be too difficult. Also I love what we made lol.

Grae g

Amy got immunity which is very sexy Zack not so much but you know he’s not an active target ((yet))

Kalle N

Ok I literally had to make a chart to keep track of which lies I'm telling to which people bc this is getting WILD. Basically, Ben and I are trying to organize a Grae blindside without Grae knowing anything. If all goes according to plan, we have the numbers to make it happen without me even having to vote for Grae, which will make Maddison and Olivia still trust me. We're also trying to get Maddison to play her idol so we're pretending that her name is being thrown out. In order for this to work we NEED Aimee so tomorrow we're trying to pit her against Grae and make her think that Grae is just using her as a number and wants to get rid of her. I also have to keep talking to Pedro and just make sure he doesn't spread any info or find anything out. Bc he could topple this whole thing. I've also told everyone that I have a fake idol when it's actually real, and Grae is the only one who knows it's real. So if we vote them out and they haven't told anyone else, then that secret dies with them and I'm golden. Even Ben thinks my idol is fake. I'M OUT HERE PLAYING 11TH DIMENSIONAL CHESS rn

Zack M

to quote the great philosopher t-pain, "all i do is win win win...." dude. what?! i won the first "individual" immunity challenge?! this is so wild to me. najwah and sarah's was so cute. i want the little bead man najwah made of me. she really called me an #EMOGAY ... love to see it. back to my work though ... look ... was amy my first choice? no. literally no offense to you amy because you were actually a delight to work with because you allowed me to do what i wanted to do. the secret to a relationship with me is to let me have my way. you did and LOOK AT GOD you're safe. i know i'm a threat in this game and the second i don't win i will be in the mouths of everyone ... im including my alliances in that statement. like why would you want to keep me in this game with my track record? i guess for a shield? seems risky to me. i would 100% blindside me. i would like to take a second and talk to one of the judges from this challenge: dear raffy, lord where do i even start. this is an online game of survivor that's happening while everyone is also living real life. i'm not sure what you expected from people but like damn dude ... you were really acting like you were a guest judge on america's got talent or something. make way for TRYra banks. he called himself "a moment" in his bio. let me tell you that no people wait a lifetime for a moment like this. i can't. lol. you literally gave me a 6 for appeal but gave a computer generated buzzfeed quiz a 9. these judges should really have to explain their scores live in my opinion. ALSO JUDGES SHOULD NOT BE PEOPLE WHO ARE DRAFTING PLAYERS!!! now, i'm not saying they are cheating. (please do not edit this out because i just learned that was a thing from najwah. i will share whatever is missing from my confessions on twitter or somewhere if it isn't here when posted.) it seems a lot of this game is "in the family" and i don't like that. it's hard to be unbiased. but back to raffy ... you said i should have included the entire tribe or created a whole deck. sir ... 1. this is an INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE that i already had the displeasure of working on with someone else. it should have just been me on that card tbh. i'm tired of having everything comeback to a tribe. this isn't pre-merge. 2. create a whole deck? this was not some copy and paste art project. i did EVERYTHING including writing out the text on the cards instead of typing it out. now that that's out of my system .. jesus .. i don't even know where to begin with the vote. ben and i have decided to start floating maddison and olivia's names around. this will hopefully scare maddison into using whatever her MAYBE advantage from the auction is. let's flush that out. BUT the target i believe is going to be grae. we're not going to share that until later because we don't know if they're are any moles in the group. omg i just thought, what if her advantage is to steal immunity away from a player at tribal. i don't think that's ever been a thing but like maybe on this fucked up online version it could be. you just never know what to expect. hopefully everything goes according to plan and i just get to chill and see where everyone stands in the game .... and then i win again next time.

Pedro A

I dont like that Amy came to talk to me.....seems suspicious...expecially because amy and najwah for sure have an allience...LOL.....i dont even know what to say..........i think im going tonight...maybe im just being paranoid....But i have this feeling....and hey its my 3rd tribal....3 times its a charm LOL

Amy A

So my little alliance with Najwah is brewing 😂. We’re super close and tell each other everything and I think this is the best move I’ve made since the game started. Also, I won immunity 🎉. Najwah’s advantage really helped. Cos that’s what boosted us. Unless no one tells me she’s the vote, she’s NOT going home tonight. I feel really great for tonight’s tribal and can’t wait to see what’s next.

Pedro A

but im 95% sure najwah..and amy are working a together...like amy came to talk to me...while najwah was online....and it seemed like shes was comparing notes ..to what i said to najwah lol

Pedro A

it feel like Najwah came to supervise me and to get me to throw out a name...LIKE GURLLLL...you think im stoopid?....I HAVE A BAD FEELING...i think its me tonight...chilleeee...which is dumb tbh....cause theres bigger fish...

Pedro A

I feel like najwah...doesnt trust me........like shes always...suspicous of me ...i dont like that....like im paranoid...but she is AN INVESTIGATOR��

Pedro A

IM going homeeee FUCKKK

Pedro A

Theory confirmed...CHILLEE...kalle told me....and Grae, Maddison, or Olivia, are planning to vote my ass out...like gurl....and apparently the other tribe was also considering voting my ass out also...wtffff...IM AT ROCK BOTTOM...and im not even playing both sides...i just want grae maddison and olivia out LOL

Pedro A

Grae´s ass better leave...i worked so mf hard on that challenge...and got a disadvantge from them ...and now they are trynna vote me out...LIKE chillleee wtf

Maddison

I! Still! Want! Pedro! Gone! Also hi Zack you’re the clear ringleader but you’ll be knocked out soon enough my guy

Olivia A

Hiii so it’s looking like we’re going for Pedro. I think we have a solid 6 and hopefully 7 if we can get Aimee to get Sarah in with us. This vote feels really important bc it’s gonna establish who has the majority. Although, anyone could flip at any time. WHO KNOWS!!

Kalle N

So last night I was stressing and now I've actually decided to just pass away. This is getting insane. I told Pedro about the Grae vote and he's in, I just have to babysit him and make sure that he doesn't say a word about it to anyone. We also NEED Cody to use his extra vote. I need to throw away my vote on someone that Amy could vote for bc I'm gonna have to throw blame on her after this if this actually works out. The lying is really getting on top of me bc I have to say different things to different people but here we are. Very big tribal tonight

Maddison

I wish some people would realize that if you’re not on top, you’re on the bottom & getting played.

Amy A

The votes are a MESS lemme tell you! The names are Pedro and Grae. We’re tryna use Cody as our decoy vote. The actual mess is in who we’re gonna involve and everyone tryna downplay their closeness to people on the other side. OG Maola tea-time seems to be working well together and have all agreed on Pedro. Maddison has taken a step back from the aggressive role cos I think she has seen that it’d make her a target. I honestly wouldn’t mind voting her out someday because she’s GOOD. I just want us all to get through this tribal and see where the lines fall.

Amy A

Najwah is an actual rockstar 😂😂😂. She and I are basically a tag team at this point. Our private messages are actually lit. Nothing is off topic and literally everything I hear, I tell her. The best part is always blaming the things I know from her from our Palena swap tribe on James. I always say ‘James told me ...’ and it’s HILARIOUS. People may have doubted at the beginning but I think that now, no one even thinks we work together. We nicknames Zack and Pedro ‘Dynamic Dúo’ and I basically love her. She’s my spirit animal.

Olivia A

The vote is still Pedro but our fake-out vote is Cody. I completely trust the people I’m working with but I’m getting a gut feeling that this isn’t going to work out in our favor. Just bc the numbers aren’t quite secure yet. But I’ll just stick w the plan and stay hopeful :/

Kalle N.

kinda bummed we didn't get to pull off the Grae blindside tonight and give Pedro the idol that no one knows about :( But I'm more bummed that Zack was treating anyone the way he did so good riddance I guess. The PB & K alliance is hopefully going to be the undercover move making force that we need to keep our momentum going forward. Unfortunately I do have to work with Ben for right now since I'm definitely on the bottom of my other alliances. It'll be interesting to see what happens next

Pedro A

SOOO this was a mess....i was going homeee tonight.........this wholee situation saved my damn lifeeee.....lets hope this was only a situational thing....and next round is someone different....i doubt it...but still......im so shocked about zack...also can i say that my nº1s change every elimination ..like now its kalle and ben ...i trust them..they had my best interest in mind....im sorry to whoever is reading this...i dont like making long texts in english..and im not good with essays.. SORRY

Aimee

I’m not sure where I left off in my last confessional lol so I’ll start here It was a lot of fun working with Kalle on the coloring and poem projects. I really liked her haiku and her originality of it. I hope she becomes more confident in her creative writing. I’m happy that we got 3rd overall. This morning I heard Grae’s name get thrown around. Haha I literally almost cried when I heard that. I’m not normally an emotional person but I feel like Grae and I have such a special connection and I don’t want to lose it so soon. They are a joy to talk with everyday and I might honestly have a little crush forming. ☺️😅 Their energy matches no other that I talk to in this game. 🤩 It was so nice getting reached out to by Grae and Maddison on how they wanted to vote Pedro out. It was such a relief to finally get included in a vote. I am working closely with Ben in this game. Our main thing is that no one can know we are working together so that we can hear information from all sides of the game. He is someone that I can spill my guts to about ANYTHING game related and I know that he is in it with me for the long haul. There’s so much we know about each other that it’s almost impossible to betray each other without burning each other to the ground! Not that I would want to! He is such a sweetheart and I love him to bits! Haha it’s hard to keep track of the days at this point. We video chat a lot and I really enjoy his company! I’m happy we both made it to merge and together we can turn this game upside down. Sarah and I call ourselves Team Casanova! The flash game queens! 👑 I love talking with her about outside of the game stuff. It’s was so great having her on Maola with me and now merge. We have built such a strong relationship and I really think she is someone I can trust through the end!!!! I really enjoy Maddison too. She seems so down to earth and easy to talk to. I’m glad she sees me as an ally and am excited to see how far she is willing to work with me. Shout out to my girl Najwah! I had no idea what all she was going through and I’m so happy that the emotional threat to her well being is out of this game. She is such a gem and I hope we get to work together more in the future. I’m honestly happy Zack is out of the game. I don’t enjoy hearing what all he was saying about contestants and the host. This game is meant for fun. I hope with him being out the game will be less stressful for us all. I’m just so sorry to hear about what people on my old Hanuha chat had to go through, it sounds even worse than how I felt about things. It breaks my heart and I’m relieved for this reset in the game where we can all air things out and come together. I love everyone here and I’m so happy Jay has decided to recruit me. These friendships I have made and continue to make have been such a joy this summer. Your lady is strong and I will keep fighting for that immunity. ✌️

Najwah

these past 24 hours have been the craziest ever and I have experienced a whirlwind of emotions, all while forgetting to eat, barely sleeping ans having not got out of bed today. Let me start from the beginning, hopefully I remember it all. Let me grab some snacks too. So it started with our first reward challenge. The auction. zack immediately asked me what I got and everyone else were sharing their bid items in the old hanuha group chat so in a panic, I told him. In retrospect, I should have lied. Anyway, zack made me doubt my trust in Cody so i decided not to tell Cody the truth about the necklace, i would learn that zack had told cody about my necklace almost immediately. But more on that later. Anyway, in a panic, i told ben too. lmao. Why? who knows? But i suppose it was an opening and Ben and i Could talk for the first time. Why am i writing this at 12 am on like2 hours sleep? who knows? Okay so then the reward challenge comes up and I am paired with Sarah. I end up having the best day ever. I had so much fun creating and chatting to sarah. We just spoke about life, absolutely nothing game related. For the first time in this entire game, I felt as though we could actually WIN and for the first time, I was having THE BEST DAY. I gave each of my 8bit survivor characters little haikus. It was funny, if i say so myself. Me? I love my silly humour. Okay this page is cutting me off I will write these in parts.

Najwah

Before the challenge due date yesterday, Cody messages me and of course I am pleasantly surprised as I have felt like things were a bit off between Cody and I since merge happened. He said he wants to call and it ends up being one of the most emotional calls i have had in a while, even in real life. Through our call, we realised that we have basically had the same gut feelings about zack and his behaviour for a while now and we spoke about how zack has been trying to pit us against each other, how controlling and jealous and manipulative he is. We basically realised that the reason we have been so mentally exhausted was BECAUSE of Zack's paranoia. zack spoke so much game. we were constantly being bombarded and had our trust and loyalty questioned and he thought nothing about throwing My or Cody's names out. All of this just validated and reaffirmed our feelings towards Zack and we decided there and then that we would vote Zack out ASAP. As we were talking, the reultsof the challenge were released and lmao what are the chances that FRIGGEN ZACK WINS IMMUNITY URGGGHHHH. We were reeling and i so much wanted to decompress with Cody but then I had my meeting with the VL draft people so I had to reframe my mindset. Bare in mind that this is all happening at 4am and im under the blankets, with a warm bean bag because it is freezing out. NajwahI actually loved my conference call with Ellie, Raffy and Tim. What awesome people. I wish i wasn't as distracted or could articulate better because I feel as though my mind was all over the place but i also took the opportunity to ask for their advice and guidance post my call of revelations with Cody. It was still fresh in my mind and they gave me some GOOD pointers. They also told me how I should approach the game moving forward. I loved how they all had such different approaches. Raffy made me laugh so much. They told me how to deal with Zack too. So some other ish went down after this call.

Najwah

Cody calls me and is like "lets get on a three way call with Sarah" After gushing about how much we love each other and how we have been on the same page for such a long time, Sarah throws an idea out that sticks. WHY NOT VOTE PEDRO OUT TO ISOLATE ZACK SINCE WE CANNOT VOTE ZACK. And we spent a lot of time freaking out and laughing about how we are going to do that. Cody was frustrated that everyone just assumed he and Zack were a duo and I said its because "Zack and Cody" to which Cody replied "Well this definitely aint the sweet life." Later I suggested that we call the group Mr Moseby and Cody said it was perfect as Zack was the bane of Mr Mosebys existance. Everytime i think about it I laugh. We spoke until my battery died, which was around 6am. I didnt sleep much because I was tasked to get a name out of pedro. I think i was messy there because Pedro accused me of being acting "like a supervisor and demanding a name from him like he is a ring leader" and honestly, it made me laugh so much. He is so dramatic I can't deal. Anyway, he knew what I was trying to do and he called me out and I apologised and honestly felt bad about the whole thing. In the end, I am happy we didn't vote him out. He has loose lips but he is very honest and I like that.

Najwah

So i feel as though there are so many things that happened simultaneously today. Amy L and I are working together on the side, she gives me all the ex maola tea. She told me Maddison has an idol. I haven't used this information yet and I won't now because it will raise questions. I told her that some of us are willing to vote Zack. The funny thing about our chats is that Amy keeps saying we need to share this tea with the VL. Any bit of information I have ever given her, she tells her tribemates she got from James lmao. And whenever I talk about her, I use James and Ryan too. Our alliance is so low key and its such a safe, unpretentious space. We have the best chats and we just spill tea for information's sake. Neither of us are going to use any of the tea. It's great having an in.

Najwah

So all day Zack has been bitching about jay and Raffy and the judges and honestly, I can't even remember what else. It was as though he got a kick out of being verbally abusive. I think he watches too much trashy reality TV, there is a difference between sassy and just plain rude. I also felt that many of his comments were borderline misogynistic. also, whatever information I have given him, he used against Jay. Today was a blur and also intense and also exhausting. I went with Cody to a mall, to visit his friend at a military base, drove around with him, chatted in his room while he was drinking a whole bottle of frozen coke. Like we spoke so much and it was just Zack's constant bitching and paranoia getting to us? Like? How does one person make so many people feel uncomfortable. Cody got on a call with Ben and told him that we had been trying to vote Pedro out and ben went ballistic and said that i am being manipulated by ex moala, he didn't know that we all wanted Pedro out. It made me mad so I called Ben too and asked him why he keeps thinking I want to flip? But he gave me his word and I guess that should mean something. Today was especially exhausting because I had to pretend and entertain Zack until we voted him out. I hated every minute because usually if i find out people talk shit about me, I either talk it out or just not talk to the person at all. I couldnt do that with him. I needed him tio feel safe with me in order for us to pull of the pedro blindside. I wanted to see the look on his face when he realised wtf had just happened. Am i sad that I didn't get that satisfaction? yep.

Najwah

Do I feel Zack should have been removed? Honestly no. I don't agree with it. I think we should have worked with everyone else and voted him out. I genuinely don't think he is a horrible person. In all honesty, I wish we could have met outside this game. I feel as though the game wasn't good for him. Not that i'm trying to justify his actions but I feel as though he got too invested and was too emotionally unstable. Most of us are here to have fun. Sure, it would be nice to win but at the end of the day it's not real life and I would much rather preserve the friendships and connections I've made in this game than win. Winning is nice but it isn't everything. Am i worried about Zack and wonder whether he will have a setback of some sort? Definitely. He has spoken about his crippling anxiety numerous times, which he has also projected time and time again.

Najwah

So Cody feels bad and blames himself for all of this. I don't blame him. I feel bad too. I thought I would feel some sort of relief with zack gone, but it is just guilt. I mean the messages were still sent in confidence and I feel bad for violating his privacy. I also feel bad for entertaining him because of the game. I don't want to be playing so hard that I go against my values. It just feels weird with zack removed. Like he wont be on the jury. I can't stop wondering whether he is okay, as a human to another human. My husband says that the Russel Hantz of Tierra del fuego got removed. It made me laugh a little. He is a survivor super fan too so he is very invested in all of this. Sigh. I may have left some stuff out because its so late and just A LOT has happened but I will keep confessing as I think of things or remember things. Oh lol Ben said he would voted Zack out in a heart beat, Basically we all felt the exact same from the beginning, no one wanted to speak out in fear of being targeted.

Olivia A

Sarah

From last night.... https://youtu.be/EirlyVVXDKk

Ben Kessler

Today was eventful, so I will skip to the end. Situationally, I believe I am not in a good spot at all. There are 11 people left, Pedro will receive votes next tribal, but I would like him to stay. My former tribe it seems as though everyone is closer with others than they are with me, except possibly Aimee but that's a stretch. Today could potentially crash my game. So, what do I do? Hope is not strategy. Tomorrow, I talk to others. I ensure everybody knows how close people are. I play double agent. I make sure I am at least in important conversations to merely be there. I let people know I want to be with them in a group setting. I re-establish that I am here to have a good time. At the end of the day, this both is and isn't monopoly. Strategy is involved, but the rules aren't as specific. You don't know how much money or property people are holding. Situationally, though, it is the same. You work with the hand you are dealt and I intend to make the absolute best of this hand. People will do what they want for a variety of reasons, so I need to let things roll off my shoulders, read, and react. To end this long confessional, I am not hoping for anything. I will be doing things to affect change. If I see it doesn't work, I lay low. Read and react.

Maddison

the pink house has become my safe haven. i shall inhabit her until i can no longer. thank you, pink house, for the many blessings of coins that you have given myself and my allies.

Pedro A

Okay...so i think grae maddison and olivia are voting me....and everyone else is voting maddison (if maddison doesnt use her ring)...and im voting olivia and using kalles idol....idk at this point 2 hours till tribal..and anything can change

Sarah

Plans keep changing every minute but as of right now going into this first Merge tribal, the plan is to vote out Maddison because it seems like Maddison, Grae, and Olivia want to vote Pedro so if they vote Pedro and the rest of us vote Maddison we may could blindside her and we could get an idol out of the game. If she plays an idol, then Pedro still goes home and original Hanuha is saved... but if Pedro wins immunity, of course we will have to rework everything. We may be able to do 4 for Olivia and 4 for Maddison .

Aimee

https://elysiankardia.tumblr.com/post/625017490490179584

Is this really happening? Am I going to vote for who I ACTUALLY want to vote for for once, as a treat? And I getting what I want...and controlling the vote?! Am I in the twilight zone? The name of the game now is to get all of my potential final allies to get along with each other and play nice. My hand is in so many cookie jars I have to be careful, all my relationships trust each other. I already have an army ready to strike if anyone tries to turn on me, and I was forming those relationships genuinely and BEFORE I needed them to come through for me, not last minute where trust would be harder to earn. I literally am running this vote off of Grae and Maddison and onto a different target. Hanuha is so deadest in getting one of the “core three” out and this is the best I can do to protect those two but also not flip on people who I trust from my original tribe. For DAYS they have been so afraid of Grae and Maddison and I’m put in massive work to divert that away from them. My plan is something right down the middle, where I get to have my cake and eat it too. I love the best of both worlds; I’m Hannah Montana!

Maddison

Tonight is going to be a big one. I’ve heard my name and I really don’t want to go home with an idol in my pocket. Better safe than sorry? Olivia AI really hope this vote works out I’m NERVOUS!! Also, I worked really hard on this challenge so getting the disadvantage when I had 2 puzzles left was shitty but I don’t really need the immunity anyway. Still felt really good to finish it out regardless of if I win. :)

Sarah

Amy A

Tribal again and with it, ALLLLLL the drama. So I have made a ‘vote four’ alliance w Kalle, Ben and Pedro which is supposed to be secret. Which makes it two secret alliances I’m a part of 😂😂😂😂😂😂. The alliance w Najwah is definitely the one I’m most loyal to but Pedro and co seem like a really solid group I can work with. I didn’t think I’d win immunity so there’s that. About tonight’s vote, the new ‘core four’ is aiming for Grae but in order to keep the alliance a secret, only Pedro will vote for her. It’s all exciting stuff and I KNOW tonight’s tribal is going to be THE ONE. Cannot wait.

Olivia A

I really hope this vote works out I’m NERVOUS!! Also, I worked really hard on this challenge so getting the disadvantage when I had 2 puzzles left was shitty but I don’t really need the immunity anyway. Still felt really good to finish it out regardless of if I win. :)

Aimee

Nooooo I didn’t need Olivia to win immunity. That way she is one of the “core 3 Maola” out. Oh man I don’t think I can save my game and Maddison at the same time. I got the target off Grae after merge happened. I worked so hard for that so this all wasn’t for nothing. There’s like fifteen minutes before tribal and I’m still not entirely sure what is going to happen.

#episodes

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aetherscribe-blog · 7 years ago

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Character Motivation

Making your characters seem less wooden and more... “meaty”?

Somebody submitted a few questions to me over the past couple of days - which was an awesome experience by the way as I feel that I am actually helping people now! I found that a pattern emerged in the questions that were asked, such as how to fill out your chapters with sub-plot and how to make characters seem less like they just revolve around one person - questions that boiled down to one reoccurring answer - Character Motivation. It’s something that many writers tend to forget or even stumble on and so, despite posting the questions on my blog, I felt like going into further detail regarding this simple yet paramount factor in character creation.

Many times, a writer will go through their story and as they write, they possibly feel like a character just isn’t cutting it. They seem to just float around near the action and not contribute much and this is usually caused by the lack of a Motivational Goal. Their motivation, of course, could be something from any number of goals. Good grades at school, avenging their murdered parents, training to become a legendary ninja or just wanting a new rug, the Motivation should serve as the forward motion for any character - the gunpowder that ignites and thrusts our characters into the very cement of any story - Conflict. Their motivation should simply shape the choices they make - choices that will undoubtedly lead to consequences, alignment with other characters they befriend or clashes with somebody who wants the same thing for themselves. It’s like how the Antagonist wants to destroy the world, whereas the Protagonist wants the world to keep on going. The conflict that erupts in that story is quite easy to see, but let’s take another example.

Let’s talk about the movie The Big Lebowski. For context, the movie is about a lazy man, the Dude, who shares the same surname as a Millionaire, thus leading to thugs entering his home and urinating on his rug in an act of extortion for a debt the Millionaire owes, only to realise they made a mistake and leave without making amends. When the Dude goes to to the Millionaire to get compensation in the form of a new rug and fails, he just simply takes one from his house. The Dude’s motivation of getting a replacement rug has been achieved, but the costs? When the Millionaire’s prize wife gets kidnapped, they call on him to pretty much sort the mess out in exchange for the rug he so clearly ran off with, which in turn lands him in a whole heap of trouble. I suggest you watch this movie as it is hilariously good and I am seriously glazing over it’s plot.

But the Main Characters are easy for this a lot of the time, because they are the people most likely to get directly involved with the bigger, looming plot. Minor Characters, on the other hand, are a little trickier. To a degree, all notable characters should have at least minimal interaction with the main plot and their own personal Motivation. This works well in the Harry Potter series, where many characters otherwise considered unimportant at the beginning of the series such as, for example, Neville Longbottom, later become much more involved. This is because Neville starts off with the simple assumed motivation of “Surviving school as a wimpy kid.”. True, Neville occasionally does a couple things important to the plot in the first few books, even if accidental, such as getting Gryffindor those pivotal ten points at the end of the first book. This is minimal involvement and lets us know that he’s not just a background character. Later in the series, Neville becomes far more involved in the story because something changes - the Wizarding World is threatened by Voldemort’s tyranny. This is the big looming plot, as Neville and many other minor characters have to step up because they know that everything they've grown to love is in danger and they do things you would never have expected them to do a couple of books before. His original motivation carried him on into the main plot and forced his hand, certainly making for a huge leap of character development as Neville becomes unthinkably brave to the point of openly defying Voldemort himself and steadying the wavering morale of many otherwise doomed characters.

Every character should have a motivation - an external goal that will settle an internal conflict. Sure, your character may want to become filthy rich but why? They might want to get rich so they can afford surgery for a loved one or even just prove themselves better than everybody else or they may even just love the shiny look of gold coins - an external goal that they can realistically achieve in order to settle an internal conflict that acts as a distraction from a crippling insecurity to them. These are two such simple and laughably easy things to and yet supremely important. It’s like going from being puppeteer to a host of characters all at once in a messy tangle of strings, to programming your characters to be autonomous and convincingly lifelike - to be able to make their own decisions based off of their own goals. Fred And George Weasley want to open their own magical joke shop business, but that’s not happening when Voldemort’s screwing with the world!

If all else fails, ask yourself - is what your character doing relevant to their Motivational Goal? If so, get them in on that moment. If not, then they have somewhere else to be that is far more interesting to them.

I hope this helped anybody out there reading it! If anybody has a specific writing question they want answering, however, please do not hesitate to ask! Happy writing, and a huge thanks to the Anon who kicked this whole thing off with those questions! I wish all the best for your story!

- CR

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kag-san · 8 years ago

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happy valentines day, pals!!! this is a list of the wonderful people ive gotten to know through inuyasha, and boy there’s a lot of them! under a read more to keep from flooding dashboards so read on to see me use words like “i love” and “like” and “omg” and “!!!” 1000 times!

@inukik i LOVE your edits like if i could gush rn i just love everything u make!!!! your gifs are so smooth and the colors are always so soft and lovely!

@kago-bae you’re so kind i love reading your tags!!!! and ur edits are SO QUALITY and your manga coloring?!!! so amazing you’re like a talent machine!

@mirsan ANGIE UR THE WHOLE REASON I HAVE THIS BLOG!!!!! u left such nice tags on my gifs from my main blog and ur blog opens a gate to iy hell again lol but ur so open and friendly and ilysm!!!! i always end up scrolling through days of your blog omg

@sinuyasha sinny ur sososososo SWEET!!!! i love literally everything u post bc we p much love the same shows!!! and you really love rumiko’s work and like ME TOO ASDJGDKLASDF!!!

@shelynite UH OK SO UR ART IS LIKE BEYOND GORGEOUS?!!! you’re so talented like you’re my watercolor hero!!!!

@narkik AMANDA UR SO DANG COOL?? WHY IS SOMEONE THIS COOL MY FRIEND?!!!! ur ridic talented with your writing like i could and have spent all day reading thru your drabbles and fics

@kagomehigurashi 1ST OF ALL IM SO #BLESSED TO BE MUTUALS W THE ACTUAL REAL KAGOME!!!! ur edits are AMAZING, i ADORE your minimalist style and your coloring skills are incredible!!!

@inukag-4ever ur absolutely the sweetest angel!!!! i love seeing your posts about the series and anything you reblog!!!!

@gobodosama ART ANGEL!!!! my jaw DROPS any time ur art hits my dash, and somehow it keeps getting better? even when its already perfect??

@tenseigaa OMG I CHECK OUT UR BLOG SO OFTEN!!! i love your sense of humor and hearing your opinions and SEEING UR ART AND READING UR FIC PLEASE just asldfjkasl;kdjf ur so cool like the absolute coolest

@inuyashs YOUR EDITS ARE SO GOOD I LOVE THEM!!!! and you always reblogs such a cool variety of iy stuff, i can always find something amazing!!!

@kaze-ranna GODDD your edits are always SO CLEAN AND MAD PROFESSIONAL, i can tell you put a lot of work into them! they always turn out beyond incredible

@bakaryuha u have such a good eye like your blog has the best iy posts!!! i love looking through your blog!

@kagkik ur such a positive person to be following!!!! u leave the nicest tags and are so friendly!!! i get a happiness contact high whenever i see your posts!

@sess-kik OK SO UR LIKE THE FUNNIEST PERSON EVER?? those bingo cards? iconic. but ur also so cool and i get excited seeing ur username whenever you post or reblog something!

@kongosoha you’re an actual darling!!! you leave the sweetest messages in tags and you have the BEST headcanons!!!!

@sesshaken MY FELLOW SESSHAKEN SHIPPER!!! not only do u have good taste in ships but i crack up everytime i go through your blog bc your commentary is fantastic. and im always here for trans iy characters!!!!

@sankontesu WHAT A SWEETHEART AM I RIGHT?? you write the most uplifting things in tags on fanart and your headcanons are so good and im just honestly blessed to be mutuals w you!!!!

@darlingdontletmego ur so sweet!!! like the absolute sweetest!!!! and ur blog def reflects that! u always make my dash 10000% cuter!!!

@sesshoumaruismybitch def my fav username to see lmao and as if that wasn’t an indicator, you have so many hilarious posts like i can’t look through your blog without grinning!

@inukag ur like the iy blog professional!!! look at ur username!!! u leave the kindest tags and your edits are E V E R Y T H I N G like holy heck

@little-known-artist your tags are so sweet!!!! and i love seeing your art, you’re so talented and draw everyone so adorably! im esp loving how you experiment with colors in your work!

@yellowis4happy OMG MY QUEEN!!!!! everyday im not worthy but im so happy were friends!!!! ur art is straight up INCREDIBLE. idk what else i could say about it, it’s literally like award-winning incredible and im basically stunned anytime you post your work!

@coquinespike im always so happy to see you in my activity and dash bc you’re so cool!!!! u have such awesome taste and u have such interesting posts on ur blog!

@lovely-taijiya UR ART STYLE IS SO CUTE OMG plus ur blog has no shortage of sango appreciation and you know i am all for that!

@togenkyoo I CAN ALWAYS RECOGNIZE U BY UR ICON i rly love that pic of sango! ur blog is like an iy classic, i try to not overdo it on reblogging from u but its so easy!

@justafewsmallsteps i love the variety in your blog!!!! of course the iy posts are great but you also reblog some great art and i get a lot of inspiration scrolling thru!

@macabre-and-cheese you’ve always been so nice and ur blog is SO fun to go through! we share the same morals (ideology?? idk how to put this lol) so i always read your posts and am like “OMG EXACTLY YES”

@inuparents YOU MAKE ME LOVE THE INU FAMILY EVEN THOUGH I KNOW NOTHING ABT THEM!!! your art makes me swoon and you’re absolutely wonderful and i love ur personal blog too!!!!

@bakusaigaa I LOVE HOW MUCH U LOVE SESS like just scrolling thru ur blog makes me sweat he’s so beautiful

@meselfandwhy i love any iy related post you make or reblog, but im also loving you love for YOI (which i also love!!!) also ur art?? flawless amazing i hope u never have a shortage of commissions when you open them

@nesaal i love your blog bc i can both find stuff for my humor blog that and get hit by iy emotions for the price of one!!!

@kristicles ur art is SO stunning!!! your shading alone is just breathtaking!!!!! if sango were real she’d look EXACTLY how you draw her!

@onikik MICHELLE MY LOVE. MY DARLING. MY TALENTED ANGEL. i can’t believe the stars aligns and our paths crossed like what kind of amazing luck is that!!! your passion for art is so infectious, and you bring us incredible art when god knows we all need it in our lives right now!!! you have such a strong, kind aura that if i can feel it talking to u over im or texting, i can’t imagine how much you’re radiating irl!!!! im so so so lucky to be friends w someone as amazing as you!!!!!

and to all my followers, i cant believe you like my stuff! how rad is that! thank you so much, ilu!!!!!

#i hope i didnt get anyones usernames mixed up!!!#and i KNOW ive missed some ppl and im sorry if i missed you!#im probably going to edit this to add more ppl as my brain catches up #iy

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survivor-all-stars-blog · 8 years ago

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Rites of Passage

For the past 58 days you have been battling it out with other All-Stars to earn the title of Sole Survivor. It has not always been easy and it has not always been fun but the four of you made it here and 21 other players did not. No matter what method you used to get here, getting here is an accomplishment and we commend you all on that.

But right now is not about you, right now is about the 21 people who started this journey with you but had it cut short. Let us take this time to reflect on the players who did not make it to this point.

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Wes: I hope everything is alright with you man. You were fun to host in the past so I was hoping to play with you but the stars didn't align I guess. :/

Jimmy: Being my first fellow Aussie that I got to play with, already a ripper of a bloke in my books. It was good to be able to chuck out some banter about Melbourne and bogans to each other because we don’t normally get the chance to do that around these parts. It's mega shame you had some things going on in real life because it would have been awesome to have you round for a wee bit longer!

Jack: From the moment we talked I thought we were going to be best friends. Shame that you sort of “disappeared” because I had heard many good things about you and your game style!

MJ: I hope you had fun at summer camp!

Well. So, ah...huh. Apparently, these all stars? Not as, ah...not as greedy as I thought. So, uh, yeah. That's, well.

Wes: Your gamble with taking the idol clue showed that you were here to go balls to the wall from the get go and I can respect that.

Jimmy: Really enjoyed chatting to you early on even though it was brief. You were a real chill dude and I found it super easy to carry on a conversation with you. It was a bummer you made an early that cost you your game, but I was pulling for you to scrape through at the time. Fun fact, I've picked up a trivia hosting gig myself and will be hitting you up for some pro tips

Jack: We only had one conversation but you were really nice!

MJ: He was a fighter.

Tumblr survivor doesn't work for me guess I'm only a one hit wonder

Wes: I was sad when you got voted out, considering you were the winner of the first season I ever hosted. I wish you had been able to make it further and have some more fun this season.

Jimmy: My lovely friend Emma! I told you this but one of the most exciting things about the reveal was watching your video and hearing that adorable accent of yours. I’m glad we were able to come in as Easter mates, but it's a darn bugger you got double-whacked early on, would have loved to have you round more. It's was awesome to catch up and it definitely makes me want to hit yourself and the whole Easter squad up a bit more so thanks for that!

Jack: You leaving the game was an unfortunate result of Andaman just outright sucking at tiebreakers and it honestly sucks that it had to happen.

MJ: Ugh. You were supposed to be the only two time u'annimous winner. :(

I think y'all are the best tumblr hosts and this was a great game... I was going through personal things in life and I was very overwhelmed with everything. No disrespect to the game at all. I'm still never been voted out :)

Wes: I don’t really have anything nice to say about you.

Jimmy: We played together in my very first game and we didn't get along particularly well over there. That clearly translated over to here because you were the only one not to hit me up this game. Congrats on keeping your 'not voted out' record I guess, although I don’t particularly think quitting is truly victorious way of keeping it.

Jack: I mean if you didn’t quit maybe you would have made it far, I don’t know.

MJ: I'm glad we got to talk before you quit... It would've really been nice to actually work with you though!

Well it was an absolute honor to get chosen to play in allstars, I wish I lasted longer but there are some TRIFLING BITCHES IN THE WORLD!! It's okay though, I made sure to curse all of them now there's just one left x Good luck everyone <3 also jack can I get ur abi maria url?

Wes: You’re one of the few people in this season that I don’t really know. I hope, if you want to, you get another shot at returning so you can make it further.

Jimmy: Somewhat of an enigma to me in this game. We chatted a fair bit at the start which I really liked, but once the game moved along you disappeared and I wouldn't hear from you for ages. My favourite memory of you will be in one of the many many tie-breakers we needed you to come on and confirm our choice and you just weren't on. The whole tribe was messaging the tribe chat "JC!", "JCCCCCCC" which reminded me of the absolutely hilarious moment in Gabon when GC went missing on the boat. Other than that, I can’t say we shared to many moments.

Jack: I am glad you brought back the story of me picking you in the Uncharted draft because your avatar was Abi-Maria and I like Abi-Maria. We didn’t talk much after but I appreciate that one moment!

MJ: You deserved better... Wish we didn't have to boot you when we did.

I don't really have anything to say except that I'm playing my ashy idol

Wes: I’ll never know if you actually wanted to work with me or not, but the things you would tell me compared to what I heard from you via other people proved that I couldn’t trust you very much.

Jimmy: mad respect for you Jessy! You were an absolute legend, reading back over our convos was a blast relieving some the most food-related chats going around. You were also a bloody fighter as well and sure didn't make life easy when you were chucked in a shit stick position. Many people were sad to see you go, and while I understood those feelings I'm glad it was a short time I had to deal with your valiant shenanigans!

Jack: I’m sad Triple J 2.0 couldn’t have a solid reunion but I remember why I still love talking to Jessy! You’ve been a solid player/person since the BBTC days (throwback right?) and I’m sorry the cards didn’t play out in a way where I could continue to work with you!

MJ: Ugh......... I love you so much... I literally had so much fun with you the round you left. I wish everything would've worked out, but I'm glad you at least had fun playing that last day.

I had to think if it was really worth it, but after that I remembered, this is AllStars. I might be a trainwreck, and i might be a bit of a clueless mess, but so was I in UI and Sicily, and i almost won one of those and sicily, even tho there were much better people, i think i did pretty great. There's always a chance to turn shit around, and i just hope i can actually do it. Wish me luck at the challenge, because i refuse to go down without a fight

Wes: You weren’t afraid to take a stand against your opponents and I majorly respect that.

Jimmy: Yeah we never particularly clicked either. It took a while to get chatting and even then, you weren't around too much. Was cool to meet someone from Venezuela but other than that I don't think we had too much going.

Jack: Thank you for being a very honest person to me. I appreciated every conversation that we shared throughout this game!

MJ: He was a fighter.

I had a lot of fun in this game and while I wish I could have gone further I did really enjoy my time here! Congrats to the final 4 and thank you to the hosts for casting me and putting together a great game

Wes: Samantha McCanada told me you were awesome, but I never got to really meet you in game!

Jimmy: just from talking to you a bunch this game I learned you're definitely someone with a real big heart, particularly for animals. One thing that really stood out for me while chatting away with you is that even though we rarely shared an interest we were still able to go on and on about any old thing. You're a really sweet person and I'm glad I was one of the ones you talked to the most ☺

Jack: My KPOP Buddy!! I’m glad I had someone to talk about KPOP with, even if it wasn’t something we did all the time. Thank you for telling me that some boy groups/songs are okay and trust me I have realized (Spring Day? Shook!)

MJ: She was a fighter.

I'm proud of how I played in all stars, hell I'm still surprised I got cast. Good luck to the meninist final 4!

Wes: I only know you by reputation, but I suspect you would have been a serious threat down the line.

Jimmy: my good mate Gage! I hope you received your thumb in good nick lol. Definitely one of best lads going around this game - loved chucking around banter, always a good time and not backing away from taking chat down a weird road! Your exit was a shit time, amplified by me very deep into Australia Day celebrations, and my last drunken proclamations summed it up pretty well lol! Would have absolutely loved if you were able to stick around longer but I’m keen to kick back and have a chat soon ☺

Jack: You were very easy to talk to and I enjoyed having your company!

MJ: He was a fighter.

The so-called HOSTING STAFF has been slandering me for YEARS. Their twists and tribe swaps were planted to make me look bad! Sad! You know, I’ve talked to fans, and I have many fans, and they’ve all said I’m the bigliest All-Star to ever play. Blame the CROOKED media and their alternative facts for my poor placement!

Wes: Speaking of reputation. I’ve never seen a group of people so fiercely want someone voted out before. You’re the epitome of a wild card in this game and I feel like a lot of people felt seriously threatened by that.

Jimmy: Mr Summers, the biggest tragedy of this game is that we couldn't get ourselves together and get a twinsie pick of our Superman onesies *cue tear*. It was real cool to finally be in a game with my pal Matt even though our game time was fairly limited to a couple of tribals. Keep hitting us up on Snapchat and chucking banter at me for being straight.

Jack: I’m really mad we were never on a tribe together because I never got to experience what it is like to play with MATT FUCKING SUMMERS. I hope you’re having a good time at college and we gotta update each other on our boy endeavors!

MJ: Our games never really aligned and probably never would have. Sucks that such a massive force like yourself had to go sort-of early, but it was definitely best for my game.

This was something else, huh. At the end of the day I'm glad I got to be a part of it, even if it wasn't for as long as I'd liked. I hope everyone remembers that it's just a game! Thanks for a kind of fun time.

Wes: You have a massive reputation and you always seem to do extremely well in the games you play. You would have been a massive threat if you were allowed to make it into the late game.

Jimmy: I'd like to say that you definitely were a real intimidating player. You seemed to be popping up in conversations about organising votes and were a real top notch guy with a bunch of connections. Going against you is the first real move I've made in any game I've played, and even then, it took a couple of go's to get the final blow. So you've got a lot of my respect for being a bit of a beast and props for being just a real good dude (despite the fact you got 0 of my sport references, but at least you gave it a go)

Jack: We talked a total of two times in this game so I apologize for a lack of effort on my part. I hope you’re doing well!

MJ:

I can't believe I got booted without making a confessional, what a tragedy. C'est la vie, I guess. Anyways, everyone left is gay now because they're on the rainbow tribe. I don't make the rules.

Wes: You are honestly one of the best people ever and I can see why people would have wanted you out from a game perspective but it didn’t make it any less sad seeing you get voted out. :(

Jimmy: Easily the best attitude towards playing this game and our stalemate call at the tie was probably one of the funniest moments I've had this game. You were a joy meeting and I feel I've learned from you this game just about being a more cheery and considerate dude. A big ole beacon of fun times you were! It’s bummer you got done because I would have really enjoyed getting the chance to have a go at merge with you there.

Jack: Probably one of my biggest pre merge regrets is not talking to you more. Thank you for telling me to go to bed for a couple of nights in the game! I never listened, but it's the thought that counts.

MJ: I would have really loved to work with you long-term, but my hand was forced the round you went. I'm glad we at least got to be on the same page for a couple of tribals though! The Logi-Wan Kenobi gif might be one of the best products of this season as well.

Survivor All Stars was full of fun surprises! My goal was to not be the first boot and making jury was the icing of the cake! I'm proud of the game I played and I've loved every moment this season. Good luck to the ones that made it to the end!

Wes: The first victim of this game’s stupid Fiji-ish twist. I didn’t see a situation where we were going to reconcile after you took out one of my lives in the premerge, and we never really talked about it afterwards. It was kind of the elephant in the room and we ended up voting for each other again here. You had the willpower to earn yourself four lives in this game and I guarantee if you had made the end you would have had an amazing story to tell.

Jimmy: - If Logan easily has the best attitude, then Ruthie easily is the kindest soul. At first I didn't really know what you were about - we didn't talk too much, I just thought you were an extremely nice lady that was up super early and up for a chat. It wasn't until I got the sweetest out-of-the-blue message about ignoring people if they were salty about nabbing the advantage because at least I was honest with it. At 4am that was exactly what I needed to hear and from that moment on I was a mega Ruthie fan! I couldn't have been more stoked when you won your way back into both games like a boss and awesomely grabbed a jury spot! You're a legend in my books and all the props to you!

Jack: The girl with 4 lives! Definitely the sweetest person on this cast. Even if our conversations weren’t consistent, they were fluid and we could keep up the same conversations for like a week over the course of many hours. Mad respect for winning the double comeback challenge, you really proved that you dedicated yourself to this game and I loved that.

MJ: I wish you hadn't gone at the tribal that you did, but I didn't want to get too involved with business that wasn't really mine. We had some nice chats along the way though, and since I made it this far, I guess I'll let you have Darren Criss.

Worth a shot, eh? :P I'm so grateful I got to play! Really wish I got back in to stir something up! It was quite the shituation but that's life, you gotta dig through a lot of shit before you find something good.

Wes: Voting you out felt really shitty. I can understand if you feel betrayed and upset by me. The only thing I can offer you is that I feel like we both really wanted to survive that garbage twist and I did what I needed to do to overcome it. I hope you can believe me when I say I would have not wanted to vote you out if two-thirds of the people that made merge weren’t all immune.

Jimmy: Stevo, my saviour from Easter! Super surprised to see you giving this game a crack, just didn't expect to see you in same game as me again. But I was bloody stoked that I'd be able to check in and see what you've been up to over the past year. Like I told you in the game, I owe all success and good times I've had in Tumblr Survivor post-Easter due to you being a top-notch dude and giving me the chance to play, so I was more than ecstatic that I'd be able to repay the favour along the line. Your last ditech attempts in this game were confusing, but way to go out in glory. Very much look forward to St Paddy's Day to hear from another gloriously trashed Stevo!

Jack: Not gonna lie, you kinda scared me for a moment when you lied about your idol. I was thoroughly convinced that it was a real thing. It is probably the one lie in this game I can say I completely fell for, no joke. It’s a shame it didn’t work out but you played it very well and I think if the circumstances were different, it could have worked out!

MJ: He was a fighter.

thanks for letting me play hosties (heart) btw, jessy and jake were robbed! (buy green light on iTunes)

Wes: I didn’t get to know you super well, and I think a lot of people didn’t know what to make of you and felt threatened by your unpredictable disposition, myself included.

Jimmy: I found you to be really hard to talk to this game. Not sure if it was an age thing or not, but yeah, constantly found us not finding things in common or talking about how bored you are with school. Even found a streak of a week where you didn't reply so can't say we had too much of a connection. You seem like a cool cat and it's a bummer we weren't able to hit it off. Credit to give where credit is due though – a great effort for making it to merge with two lives, because we all know that wasn’t easy.

Jack: The keyboard smash king! You never really spoke to me in sentences that had more than 4 words but I kind of enjoyed the change of pace compared to everyone else so thank you for that!

MJ: I still feel sort-of bad about how your tribal went down. It sucked having to lie to you and act like I didn't know what was going on. I feel like we did grow close during our time together though and I had a blast talking to you everyday. You should be proud of your game, and I think had you not gone when you did, you could've slid all the way to the end and been part of some really crucial votes along the way. Hopefully we can be friends after the game!

i had a blast. i made it 28 days. i made it past the merge um im happy. i am content and i went out with a great win and i went out as team captain for my team today and… y’know… im just… im really happy im content im in a pleasant place and i have absolutely no regrets.i feel like i owe nobody an apology, not even mySELF. im PROUD. um.. in saying that i apologize for something means that i have regrets and i have no regrets whatsoever. i made it far. i made it 28 days and i didn’t even think that i was gonna make it THAT far.. soo… to say that i did that is a hell of an accomplishment for me.. and… im just…. im happy to say that.. that i was ON survivor.. and that i went to nicaragua.. and… it’s truly a blessing!

Wes: On a purely game-related leveI think we were always going opposed to each other. I’m not sure if you felt the same way, but I felt that we just wouldn’t have room for each other in our plans. I respect your gameplay immensely though, and it’s been really cool to see just how great of a player you have become since your days in season 5, Redemption Island.

Jimmy: Gees we had a weird run, at the start it was all cool and we ended up getting chucked on the same tribe which was awesome. Then things got weird after the whole Jessy fiasco and we both sort of just left each alone until merge where I thought we better get our shit together. I appreciated we didn't end on a shitty note because I thought you were awesome guy! Still stoked I received the out-of-the-blue half selfie on one of your drunken adventures lol

Jack: I hope you believe that when you went home, I was really REALLY trying to save you. Genuinely I wanted to repay you for screwing you over multiple time throughout the course of this game. I was drawing out football plays on my whiteboard just trying to get people to listen but it was to no avail. Just know what I tried to do for you changed the duration of how the game was played out and you were a very important player. I hope you don’t hate me even though I’m a snake and I hope we can be friends.

MJ: Bich........... I cannot even put into words how much fun I had with you this time around. I'm so glad this season sucked so much for you that you had to work with ME of all people <3. Turns out you leaving at final 10 was a mistake for everyone, though, so i think you should have some pride in that! But seriously, I had a blast legitimately working with you this time around, and I wish we could've gone all the way together.

Throughout this game, I wasn't me. I was a still-life trapped in eternity. I was a focal point, out of focus, out of ink. But it had some fun moments.

Wes: Goddammit Pat. Playing this game with you was a blast and you’re one of the best allies I’ve ever had. I don’t really know what happened but I felt like you sort of drifted away, or you ended up thinking a different way forward was better for you, but I can’t help but feel like you kind of fell of your own sword at the end, from my perspective at least. I’m looking forward to talking to you more after this game is over.

Jimmy: Pat is just a downright dude. We regularly just had good chats, like you'd easily fit in with the fellas I hang out with while drinking a beer. Had some of the best convos with you over the last two months. Game wise, you sprung up as a bit of a powerhouse, had your fingers in a lot of pies and you were doing it really well. You played a killer game man and I'm pretty glad you're not still around for that reason. Looking forward to one day being able to sit down and share some blokey tales over a couple of pints!

Jack: Your vote out honestly shaped how the rest of the game turned out. I loved every call that we had together, ever since the original Andaman tribe. While you never joined the opening tribe call I made sure that I became friends with you because my mom always said good things about you!. Through Survivor Maryland and how Andaman played out, I knew you and I were going to be close. Although my schedule at times made it difficult to keep up with the viewings just know that I wish I could have kept up with them. I hope we can finish Maryland Outback after this game is over and continue being friends!

MJ: Blindsiding you the first time was fun, but the second time was so, so much better. ;) In all seriousness, I really, really wish we started this game on the same tribe, because I feel like lots of things would've gone differently this season. We were definitely like two ships in the night that just, sailed past each other. As always though, you should be incredibly proud of yourself and the game that you played. There's a reason you're always considered one of the biggest threats.

When I came into this season I didn’t feel like I belonged amongst all these big names, and I still don’t, it was exhausting to even attempt to keep up with them….but I still tried and to be fair, I surprised myself that I made it this far like, whoda thunk it seeing me get voted out in episode 4 but still making it well into merge, only to get double idoled out, like what a freaking journey, now all I hope is that I made my friends proud and thanks hosts for giving this flop a chance <3 Thanks for the Golden Apple btw and Love to my Aeolian and Myanmar fam I did this for you <3

Wes: Steffen, you’re a really awesome person and I love that we were able to move past the stuff that happened premerge (like that one time you voted me out) and become friends. I still laugh about some of the conversations we had and how over-the-top awkward they were sometimes, and being able to end up working together despite it. I was hoping you’d go far in this game too, but people saw that you were a threat to win, no doubt about it.

Jimmy: One of the reasons I keep putting myself through these games is because I meet champion people, and Steffen is no exception, but rather a shining example. Immediately off the bat we hit it off and I’m stoked to be able to make a mate out of this. We had the best convos that would last for ages and you'd hang around late just for a chat which I really came to appreciate most. It took ages for us to finally be in the same vote and even then, we only just stumbled our way to achieving working together at least once. Definitely stoked we met this game and I'm keen to make it on your Tumblr Survivor wall soon as you pop on over for a visit!

Jack: Steffen, you know there are a million reasons why you’re very important to me (Am I going to announce them publicly? Nah…but you know!) Just know that your constant paranoia and your quirky charm really sparked the fun back into the game for me when I was hitting that rough patch in my life. Thank you so much for that and I’ll talk to you soon!

MJ: I had so much fun w you this season faking a showmance in the main chat. Good times. I wish we could've actually had our movie date, but if ur still open to it, we can after the season ;) Also, congrats on going out at the craziest tribal council this season. Wear that badge with pride.

It's bad karma to give someone the same placement twice, now matter how iconic it is, so just let that fester for a second. That being said, the real tragedy of this season was there not being a 'most fake' category during Touchy Subjects. Good game, good luck, good night Tumblr Survivor.

Wes: There were a bunch of people that told me how happy they would be to vote for you to win if you were able to make it to the finals. I always felt that you were silently waiting for the perfect time to strike with a huge power move. Though, I couldn’t help but feel like you didn’t like me very much, and didn’t want to talk to me the (admittedly few) times I tried to. I hope I’m wrong, at least on a personal level? Anyhow, we were both on opposing sides of the field and we both were loyal to the people that helped us get to where we were, and I deeply respect that about you.

Jimmy: It's not true what they say about Jenn being a pile of shit, she's not that bad - just a piece of shit. Na Jenn's a downright legend and there's no doubt about it. Had absolutely no clue you were going to be playing this and I was mixture of shocked, surprised and stoked when you popped up in the reveal. Having you around definitely made me feel more comfortable kicking back into Survivor-mode after a bunch of time off, and trying to do new things. Who else was going to be my ranting buddy? You've been the best ally and my best friend around here, more than what I would have thought was possible to gain in playing these online games. Extremely happy to have a last hurrah together! Come your Australia trip it's going to be a riot and very much look forward to the day when I can give you a big ole bear hug to thanks for it all <3

Jack: Jenn! One of the nicest people I think I have ever played a game with, and I mean that genuinely. When we were working together, I had a blast. All of our calls were something I was looking forward too and unfortunately, it came down to the point where you were a serious threat in this game, and I could no longer ride it out with Triple J 3.0. I am glad that I was on call with you when it happened because that was probably some of the best sportsmanship I have seen in a game ever!

MJ: I truly had a great time playing with you this season. You were loyal, yet always ready to make a move against those you weren't closest to. You're by far one of the most skilled players I've ever played with, so I'm glad I got the chance to play with you, and at times, against you. My favorite round this season was the one Pat left, because despite you wanting me out, and me wanting Kait out the previous round, we managed to pull ourselves back together and make a huge move just a couple of days later. A player like yourself really enhances the experience of a season like this. I really do feel like we were able to grow at least somewhat closer to each other throughout this experience, and I hope you feel the same way.

this was fun, then it wasn't. remember not to be a piece of shit to your friends and always look cute. regardless, another sixth place isn't that cute of a look but it is what it is. hello "retirement" i'm poppin bottles now!!!!!!

Wes: Holy shit. You are a frightening player to go up against. You’re definitely one of the best players in the community, and you were able to keep extremely loyal allies very deep into this game despite how huge of a player you were. I did enjoy talking to you when we did, even though it awkwardly never turned into much about game strategy. I definitely knew I had no place in your game plans and you probably felt the same way about me.

Jimmy: Kait mate, finally after a year we could actually have each other's back in a game. I meant it when I told you that the most promising and exciting aspect of this game was getting to Dream Team with yourself and Jenn. I was getting to trio up with a pair of the most amazing women around these parts and I was given a crack at lifting myself up to your standards. And while undoubtedly we had ups and downs between us with a couple of fights and disagreements occurring, it was still a blast being in the #MalaysiaCult gg Jenn/Jimmy/Kait! Look very much forward to the time we finally get our shit together and get smashed on call for a Family Drinking Night <3

Jack: Kait, Kait, Kait. You are probably one of the smartest people in this game, mostly because you can sense my bullshit from the minute I open my mouth and you made it really tough for me to maneuver through this game! I have no ill feelings towards you and I hope we can reunite Malaysia after the game!

MJ: Don't really know what to say here considering you removed me as a contact on Skype, so I don't really think you'd even want a Rites of Passage from me. But at any rate, playing with you is fun, and at times frustrating, but overall you're one of the main reasons why I've enjoyed this experience so much. I'd really hope that you understand that this entire time, I've been doing what was best for me and gives me the best shot at getting to the end with a case for myself. I would have loved to go to the end with you, but I never imagined a scenario where a jury would reward my gameplay or approach to the game over yours. Thanks for playing your idol on me, standing up for me, and valuing me as an ally. And although I ultimately turned my back on you, you were easily the second most valuable person to my game. If you feel like I crossed the line in this game and choose not to be my friend when this is all over, that's fine and I completely understand, but I really hope that that's not the case, and I would hope that the friendship we have transcends the decisions that either of us made in this game.

I mean..... lol I tried? I had a lot of fun this game even until the very last few seconds. While I can say I think I made more mistakes than anyone, I got a chance to play a completely different way than I ever have before. Playing from the bottom up is...an experience and I learned a lot. All of us earned the title of All Star and proved that these last few months, we should all be proud. I think the hosts all did an amazing job hosting two seasons at once and torturing us all juuuust the right amount, so I want to make sure I thank them.

Wes: Is there even such thing as a more iconic dynamic duo? If you would have told me we would have become close allies with you again I would have laughed, but I loved being able to play with you again. I loved our strategy calls where we would call each other idiots for some of the ideas we had or things we did. I loved playing Slither.io even after we didn’t have to for immunity anymore. I loved when we all came together on Thotse and came up with a way to get through that tribal without actually turning against each other. I loved getting you to fucking waste an idol on me even after how I royally betrayed you in our first game together. I loved being able to give away individual immunity a second time to save you this time instead of screwing you over. My only regret is that I couldn’t do more for you. This game would have been a lot less fun without you. Thanks.

Jimmy: I think you got the roughest deal of them when it came to being my mate. As it was with Steffen, I'm really happy to have met you this game and you're very much a legend to me! I really enjoyed our calls where we could slip in and out of important stuff while chucking in banter and smack talk at each other on the reg. I think you did an amazing job this game - you regularly got the rough end of the stick (regularly with me playing part) but you still managed to tough it out to gain an extremely respectable 5th place. And even more so, even though we kept not helping each other, I loved that we could have some fun. Happy to have picked up another mate during this shambles of a game ☺

Jack: This vote probably hurt me the most, but it was something that had to be done for my game. I think over the course of this game, our friendship has strengthened. We were together since Denali, and when that rough patch hit, I really hoped we would somehow rekindle our relationship and we did! I loved talking to you and I loved calling you. Through the 100, you recommending Heath Ledger movies for my dates, talking about my boy “problems”, and finally realizing we both love Dance Academy, I think we definitely have become really close friends. I hope after this game you and I can continue being friends because I appreciated every moment I had with you.

MJ: Ahhhh… We truly had a roller coaster of a relationship and strategic partnership in this game. I'm glad we managed to put everything aside at the end of the day and make a couple of more moves together at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the game with you and all the calls we had. You were such a good sport about your tribal, and I think that really shows your appreciation for this game, and your skill/maturity as a player in it. You had a really tough go this season, definitely more than your two other runs, but you should be proud of the game you played nonetheless. I'm so happy that we were able to create and develop our friendship throughout this season. Using this game as a tool to create or repair a relationship is one the best aspects of it, so I'm glad we did that, and I hope we can be friends after the game!

#ivebeenbamboozled

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thesnhuup · 5 years ago

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Pop Picks – January 2, 2020

What I’m listening to:

I was never really an Amy Winehouse fan and I don’t listen to much jazz or blue-eyed soul. Recently, eight years after she died at only 27, I heard her single Tears Dry On Their Own and I was hooked (the song was on someone’s “ten things I’d want on a deserted island” list). Since then, I’ve been playing her almost every day. I started the documentary about her, Amy, and stopped. I didn’t much like her. Or, more accurately, I didn’t much like the signals of her own eventual destruction that were evident early on. I think it was D. H. Lawrence that once said “Trust the art, not the artist.” Sometimes it is better not to know too much and just relish the sheer artistry of the work. Winehouse’s Back to Black, which was named one of the best albums of 2007, is as fresh and painful and amazing 13 years later.

What I’m reading:

Alan Bennett’s lovely novella An Uncommon Reader is a what-if tale, wondering what it would mean if Queen Elizabeth II suddenly became a reader. Because of a lucked upon book mobile on palace grounds, she becomes just that, much to the consternation of her staff and with all kinds of delicious consequences, including curiosity, imagination, self-awareness, and growing disregard for pomp. With an ill-framed suggestion, reading becomes writing and provides a surprise ending. For all of us who love books, this is a finely wrought and delightful love poem to the power of books for readers and writers alike. Imagine if all our leaders were readers (sigh).

What I’m watching:

I’m a huge fan of many things – The National, Boston sports teams, BMW motorcycles, Pho – but there is a stage of life, typically adolescence, when fandom changes the universe, provides a lens to finally understand the world and, more importantly, yourself, in profound ways. My wife Pat would say Joni Mitchell did that for her. Gurinder Chadha’s wonderful film Blinded By The Light captures the power of discovery when Javed, the son of struggling Pakistani immigrants in a dead end place during a dead end time (the Thatcher period, from which Britain has never recovered: see Brexit), hears Springsteen and is forever changed. The movie, sometimes musical, sometimes comedy, and often bubbling with energy, has more heft than it might seem at first. There is pain in a father struggling to retain his dignity while he fails to provide, the father and son tension in so many immigrant families (I lived some of that), and what it means to be an outsider in the only culture you actually have ever known.

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Posted on November 25, 2019

My pop picks are usually a combination of three things: what I am listening to, reading, and watching. But last week I happily combined all three. That is, I went to NYC last week and saw two shows. The first was Cyrano, starring Game of Thrones superstar Peter Dinklage in the title role, with Jasmine Cephas Jones as Roxanne. She was Peggy in the original Hamilton cast and has an amazing voice. The music was written by Aaron and Bryce Dessner, two members of my favorite band, The National, with lyrics by lead singer Matt Berninger and his wife Carin Besser. Erica Schmidt, Dinklage’s wife, directs. Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play is light, dated, and melodramatic, but this production was delightful. Dinklage owns the stage, a master, and his deep bass voice, not all that great for singing, but commanding in the delivery of every line, was somehow a plaintive and resonant counterpoint to Cephas Jones’ soaring voice. In the original Cyrano, the title character’s large nose marks him as outsider and ”other,” but Dinklage was born with achondroplasia, the cause of his dwarfism, and there is a kind of resonance in his performance that feels like pain not acted, but known. Deeply. It takes this rather lightweight play and gives it depth. Even if it didn’t, not everything has to be deep and profound – there is joy in seeing something executed so darn well. Cyrano was delightfully satisfying.

The other show was the much lauded Aaron Sorkin rendition of To Kill a Mockingbird, starring another actor at the very top of his game, Ed Harris. This is a Mockingbird for our times, one in which iconic Atticus Finch’s idealistic “you have to live in someone else’s skin” feels naive in the face of hateful racism and anti-Semitism. The Black characters in the play get more voice, if not agency, in the stage play than they do in the book, especially housekeeper Calpurnia, who voices incredulity at Finch’s faith in his neighbors and reminds us that he does not pay the price of his patience. She does. And Tom Robinson, the Black man falsely accused of rape – “convicted at the moment he was accused,” Whatever West Wing was for Sorkin – and I dearly loved that show – this is a play for a broken United States, where racism abounds and does so with sanction by those in power. As our daughter said, “I think Trump broke Aaron Sorkin.” It was as powerful a thing I’ve seen on stage in years.

With both plays, I was reminded of the magic that is live theater.

October 31, 2019

What I’m listening to:

It drove his critics crazy that Obama was the coolest president we ever had and his summer 2019 playlist on Spotify simply confirms that reality. It has been on repeat for me. From Drake to Lizzo (God I love her) to Steely Dan to Raphael Saadiq to Sinatra (who I skip every time – I’m not buying the nostalgia), his carefully curated list reflects not only his infinite coolness, but the breadth of his interests and generosity of taste. I love the music, but I love even more the image of Michelle and him rocking out somewhere far from Washington’s madness, as much as I miss them both.

What I’m reading:

I struggled with Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo for the first 50 pages, worried that she’d drag out every tired trope of Mid-Eastern society, but I fell for her main characters and their journey as refugees from Syria to England. Parts of this book were hard to read and very dark, because that is the plight of so many refugees and she doesn’t shy away from those realities and the enormous toll they take on displaced people. It’s a hard read, but there is light too – in resilience, in love, in friendships, the small tender gestures of people tossed together in a heartless world. Lefteri volunteered in Greek refugee programs, spent a lot of interviewing people, and the book feels true, and importantly, heartfelt.

What I’m watching:

Soap opera meets Shakespeare, deliciously malevolent and operatic, Succession has been our favorite series this season. Loosely based on the Murdochs and their media empire (don’t believe the denials), this was our must watch television on Sunday nights, filling the void left by Game of Thrones. The acting is over-the-top good, the frequent comedy dark, the writing brilliant, and the music superb. We found ourselves quoting lines after every episode. Like the hilarious; “You don’t hear much about syphilis these days. Very much the Myspace of STDs.” Watch it so we can talk about that season 2 finale.

August 30, 2019

What I’m listening to:

I usually go to music here, but the New York Times new 1619 podcast is just terrific, as is the whole project, which observes the sale of the first enslaved human beings on our shores 400 years ago. The first episode, “The Fight for a True Democracy” is a remarkable overview (in a mere 44 minutes) of the centrality of racism and slavery in the American story over those 400 years. It should be mandatory listening in every high school in the country. I’m eager for the next episodes. Side note: I am addicted to The Daily podcast, which gives more color and detail to the NY Times stories I read in print (yes, print), and reminds me of how smart and thoughtful are those journalists who give us real news. We need them now more than ever.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead has done it again. The Nickel Boys, his new novel, is a worthy successor to his masterpiece The Underground Railroad, and because it is closer to our time, based on the real-life horrors of a Florida reform school, and written a time of resurgent White Supremacy, it hits even harder and with more urgency than its predecessor. Maybe because we can read Underground Railroad with a sense of “that was history,” but one can’t read Nickel Boys without the lurking feeling that such horrors persist today and the monsters that perpetrate such horrors walk among us. They often hold press conferences.

What I’m watching:

Queer Eye, the Netflix remake of the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy some ten years later, is wondrously entertaining, but it also feels adroitly aligned with our dysfunctional times. Episode three has a conversation with Karamo Brown, one of the fab five, and a Georgia small town cop (and Trump supporter) that feels unscripted and unexpected and reminds us of how little actual conversation seems to be taking place in our divided country. Oh, for more car rides such as the one they take in that moment, when a chasm is bridged, if only for a few minutes. Set in the South, it is often a refreshing and affirming response to what it means to be male at a time of toxic masculinity and the overdue catharsis and pain of the #MeToo movement. Did I mention? It’s really fun.

July 1, 2019

What I’m listening to:

The National remains my favorite band and probably 50% of my listening time is a National album or playlist. Their new album I Am Easy To Find feels like a turning point record for the band, going from the moody, outsider introspection and doubt of lead singer Matt Berninger to something that feels more adult, sophisticated, and wiser. I might have titled it Women Help The Band Grow Up. Matt is no longer the center of The National’s universe and he frequently cedes the mic to the many women who accompany and often lead on the long, their longest, album. They include Gail Ann Dorsey (who sang with Bowie for a long time), who is amazing, and a number of the songs were written by Carin Besser, Berninger’s wife. I especially love the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the arrangements, and the sheer complexity and coherence of the work. It still amazes me when I meet someone who does not know The National. My heart breaks for them just a little.

What I’m reading:

Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls is a retelling of Homer’s Iliad through the lens of a captive Trojan queen, Briseis. As a reviewer in The Atlantic writes, it answers the question “What does war mean to women?” We know the answer and it has always been true, whether it is the casual and assumed rape of captive women in this ancient war story or the use of rape in modern day Congo, Syria, or any other conflict zone. Yet literature almost never gives voice to the women – almost always minor characters at best — and their unspeakable suffering. Barker does it here for Briseis, for Hector’s wife Andromache, and for the other women who understand that the death of their men is tragedy, but what they then endure is worse. Think of it ancient literature having its own #MeToo moment. The NY Times’ Geraldine Brooks did not much like the novel. I did. Very much.

What I’m watching:

The BBC-HBO limited series Years and Years is breathtaking, scary, and absolutely familiar. It’s as if Black Mirrorand Children of Men had a baby and it precisely captures the zeitgeist, the current sense that the world is spinning out of control and things are coming at us too fast. It is a near future (Trump has been re-elected and Brexit has occurred finally)…not dystopia exactly, but damn close. The closing scene of last week’s first episode (there are 6 episodes and it’s on every Monday) shows nuclear war breaking out between China and the U.S. Yikes! The scope of this show is wide and there is a big, baggy feel to it – but I love the ambition even if I’m not looking forward to the nightmares.

May 19, 2019

What I’m listening to:

I usually go to music here, but I was really moved by this podcast of a Davis Brooks talk at the Commonwealth Club in Silicon Valley: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/podcast/david-brooks-quest-moral-life. While I have long found myself distant from his political stance, he has come through a dark night of the soul and emerged with a wonderful clarity about calling, community, and not happiness (that most superficial of goals), but fulfillment and meaning, found in community and human kinship of many kinds. I immediately sent it to my kids.

What I’m reading:

Susan Orlean’s wonderful The Library Book, a love song to libraries told through the story of the LA Central Library. It brought back cherished memories of my many hours in beloved libraries — as a kid in the Waltham Public Library, a high schooler in the Farber Library at Brandeis (Lil Farber years later became a mentor of mine), and the cathedral-like Bapst Library at BC when I was a graduate student. Yes, I was a nerd. This is a love song to books certainly, but a reminder that libraries are so, so much more. It is a reminder that libraries are less about a place or being a repository of information and, like America at its best, an idea and ideal. By the way, oh to write like her.

What I’m watching:

What else? Game of Thrones, like any sensible human being. This last season is disappointing in many ways and the drop off in the writing post George R.R. Martin is as clear as was the drop off in the post-Sorkin West Wing. I would be willing to bet that if Martin has been writing the last season, Sansa and Tyrion would have committed suicide in the crypt. That said, we fans are deeply invested and even the flaws are giving us so much to discuss and debate. In that sense, the real gift of this last season is the enjoyment between episodes, like the old pre-streaming days when we all arrived at work after the latest episode of the Sopranos to discuss what we had all seen the night before. I will say this, the last two episodes — full of battle and gore – have been visually stunning. Whether the torches of the Dothraki being extinguished in the distance or Arya riding through rubble and flame on a white horse, rarely has the series ascended to such visual grandeur.

March 28, 2019

What I’m listening to:

There is a lovely piece played in a scene from A Place Called Home that I tracked down. It’s Erik Satie’s 3 Gymnopédies: Gymnopédie No. 1, played by the wonderful pianist Klára Körmendi. Satie composed this piece in 1888 and it was considered avant-garde and anti-Romantic. It’s minimalism and bit of dissonance sound fresh and contemporary to my ears and while not a huge Classical music fan, I’ve fallen in love with the Körmendi playlist on Spotify. When you need an alternative to hours of Cardi B.

What I’m reading:

Just finished Esi Edugyan’s 2018 novel Washington Black. Starting on a slave plantation in Barbados, it is a picaresque novel that has elements of Jules Verne, Moby Dick, Frankenstein, and Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad. Yes, it strains credulity and there are moments of “huh?”, but I loved it (disclosure: I was in the minority among my fellow book club members) and the first third is a searing depiction of slavery. It’s audacious, sprawling (from Barbados to the Arctic to London to Africa), and the writing, especially about nature, luminous.

What I’m watching:

A soap opera. Yes, I’d like to pretend it’s something else, but we are 31 episodes into the Australian drama A Place Called Home and we are so, so addicted. Like “It’s AM, but can’t we watch just one more episode?” addicted. Despite all the secrets, cliff hangers, intrigue, and “did that just happen?” moments, the core ingredients of any good soap opera, APCH has superb acting, real heft in terms of subject matter (including homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexual assault, and class), touches of our beloved Downton Abbey, and great cars. Beware. If you start, you won’t stop.

February 11, 2019

What I’m listening to:

Raphael Saadiq has been around for quite a while, as a musician, writer, and producer. He’s new to me and I love his old school R&B sound. Like Leon Bridges, he brings a contemporary freshness to the genre, sounding like a young Stevie Wonder (listen to “You’re The One That I Like”). Rock and Roll may be largely dead, but R&B persists – maybe because the former was derivative of the latter and never as good (and I say that as a Rock and Roll fan). I’m embarrassed to only have discovered Saadiq so late in his career, but it’s a delight to have done so.

What I’m reading:

Just finished Marilynne Robinson’s Home, part of her trilogy that includes the Pulitzer Prize winning first novel, Gilead, and the book after Home, Lila. Robinson is often described as a Christian writer, but not in a conventional sense. In this case, she gives us a modern version of the prodigal son and tells the story of what comes after he is welcomed back home. It’s not pretty. Robinson is a self-described Calvinist, thus character begets fate in Robinson’s world view and redemption is at best a question. There is something of Faulkner in her work (I am much taken with his famous “The past is never past” quote after a week in the deep South), her style is masterful, and like Faulkner, she builds with these three novels a whole universe in the small town of Gilead. Start with Gilead to better enjoy Home.

What I’m watching:

Sex Education was the most fun series we’ve seen in ages and we binged watched it on Netflix. A British homage to John Hughes films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty in Pink, it feels like a mash up of American and British high schools. Focusing on the relationship of Maeve, the smart bad girl, and Otis, the virginal and awkward son of a sex therapist (played with brilliance by Gillian Anderson), it is laugh aloud funny and also evolves into more substance and depth (the abortion episode is genius). The sex scenes are somehow raunchy and charming and inoffensive at the same time and while ostensibly about teenagers (it feels like it is explaining contemporary teens to adults in many ways), the adults are compelling in their good and bad ways. It has been renewed for a second season, which is a gift.

January 3, 2019

What I’m listening to:

My listening choices usually refer to music, but this time I’m going with Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast on genius and the song Hallelujah. It tells the story of Leonard Cohen’s much-covered song Hallelujah and uses it as a lens on kinds of genius and creativity. Along the way, he brings in Picasso and Cézanne, Elvis Costello, and more. Gladwell is a good storyteller and if you love pop music, as I do, and Hallelujah, as I do (and you should), you’ll enjoy this podcast. We tend to celebrate the genius who seems inspired in the moment, creating new work like lightning strikes, but this podcast has me appreciating incremental creativity in a new way. It’s compelling and fun at the same time.

What I’m reading:

Just read Clay Christensen’s new book, The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty. This was an advance copy, so soon available. Clay is an old friend and a huge influence on how we have grown SNHU and our approach to innovation. This book is so compelling, because we know attempts at development have so often been a failure and it is often puzzling to understand why some countries with desperate poverty and huge challenges somehow come to thrive (think S. Korea, Singapore, 19th C. America), while others languish. Clay offers a fresh way of thinking about development through the lens of his research on innovation and it is compelling. I bet this book gets a lot of attention, as most of his work does. I also suspect that many in the development community will hate it, as it calls into question the approach and enormous investments we have made in an attempt to lift countries out of poverty. A provocative read and, as always, Clay is a good storyteller.

What I’m watching:

Just watched Leave No Trace and should have guessed that it was directed by Debra Granik. She did Winter’s Bone, the extraordinary movie that launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career. Similarly, this movie features an amazing young actor, Thomasin McKenzie, and visits lives lived on the margins. In this case, a veteran suffering PTSD, and his 13-year-old daughter. The movie is patient, is visually lush, and justly earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (I have a rule to never watch anything under 82%). Everything in this film is under control and beautifully understated (aside from the visuals) – confident acting, confident directing, and so humane. I love the lack of flashbacks, the lack of sensationalism – the movie trusts the viewer, rare in this age of bombast. A lovely film.

December 4, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spending a week in New Zealand, we had endless laughs listening to the Kiwi band, Flight of the Conchords. Lots of comedic bands are funny, but the music is only okay or worse. These guys are funny – hysterical really – and the music is great. They have an uncanny ability to parody almost any style. In both New Zealand and Australia, we found a wry sense of humor that was just delightful and no better captured than with this duo. You don’t have to be in New Zealand to enjoy them.

What I’m reading:

I don’t often reread. For two reasons: A) I have so many books on my “still to be read” pile that it seems daunting to also rereadbooks I loved before, and B) it’s because I loved them once that I’m a little afraid to read them again. That said, I was recently asked to list my favorite book of all time and I answered Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. But I don’t really know if that’s still true (and it’s an impossible question anyway – favorite book? On what day? In what mood?), so I’m rereading it and it feels like being with an old friend. It has one of my very favorite scenes ever: the card game between Levin and Kitty that leads to the proposal and his joyous walking the streets all night.

What I’m watching:

Blindspotting is billed as a buddy-comedy. Wow does that undersell it and the drama is often gripping. I loved Daveed Diggs in Hamilton, didn’t like his character in Black-ish, and think he is transcendent in this film he co-wrote with Rafael Casal, his co-star. The film is a love song to Oakland in many ways, but also a gut-wrenching indictment of police brutality, systemic racism and bias, and gentrification. The film has the freshness and raw visceral impact of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. A great soundtrack, genre mixing, and energy make it one of my favorite movies of 2018.

October 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We had the opportunity to see our favorite band, The National, live in Dallas two weeks ago. Just after watching Mistaken for Strangers, the documentary sort of about the band. So we’ve spent a lot of time going back into their earlier work, listening to songs we don’t know well, and reaffirming that their musicality, smarts, and sound are both original and astoundingly good. They did not disappoint in concert and it is a good thing their tour ended, as we might just spend all of our time and money following them around. Matt Berninger is a genius and his lead vocals kill me (and because they are in my range, I can actually sing along!). Their arrangements are profoundly good and go right to whatever brain/heart wiring that pulls one in and doesn’t let them go.

What I’m reading:

Who is Richard Powers and why have I only discovered him now, with his 12th book? Overstory is profoundly good, a book that is essential and powerful and makes me look at my everyday world in new ways. In short, a dizzying example of how powerful can be narrative in the hands of a master storyteller. I hesitate to say it’s the best environmental novel I’ve ever read (it is), because that would put this book in a category. It is surely about the natural world, but it is as much about we humans. It’s monumental and elegiac and wondrous at all once. Cancel your day’s schedule and read it now. Then plant a tree. A lot of them.

What I’m watching:

Bo Burnham wrote and directed Eighth Grade and Elsie Fisher is nothing less than amazing as its star (what’s with these new child actors; see Florida Project). It’s funny and painful and touching. It’s also the single best film treatment that I have seen of what it means to grow up in a social media shaped world. It’s a reminder that growing up is hard. Maybe harder now in a world of relentless, layered digital pressure to curate perfect lives that are far removed from the natural messy worlds and selves we actually inhabit. It’s a well-deserved 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and I wonder who dinged it for the missing 2%.

September 7, 2018

What I’m listening to:

With a cover pointing back to the Beastie Boys’ 1986 Licensed to Ill, Eminem’s quietly released Kamikaze is not my usual taste, but I’ve always admired him for his “all out there” willingness to be personal, to call people out, and his sheer genius with language. I thought Daveed Diggs could rap fast, but Eminem is supersonic at moments, and still finds room for melody. Love that he includes Joyner Lucas, whose “I’m Not Racist” gets added to the growing list of simply amazing music videos commenting on race in America. There are endless reasons why I am the least likely Eminem fan, but when no one is around to make fun of me, I’ll put it on again.

What I’m reading:

Lesley Blume’s Everyone Behaves Badly, which is the story behind Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and his time in 1920s Paris (oh, what a time – see Midnight in Paris if you haven’t already). Of course, Blume disabuses my romantic ideas of that time and place and everyone is sort of (or profoundly so) a jerk, especially…no spoiler here…Hemingway. That said, it is a compelling read and coming off the Henry James inspired prose of Mrs. Osmond, it made me appreciate more how groundbreaking was Hemingway’s modern prose style. Like his contemporary Picasso, he reinvented the art and it can be easy to forget, these decades later, how profound was the change and its impact. And it has bullfights.

What I’m watching:

Chloé Zhao’s The Rider is just exceptional. It’s filmed on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which provides a stunning landscape, and it feels like a classic western reinvented for our times. The main characters are played by the real-life people who inspired this narrative (but feels like a documentary) film. Brady Jandreau, playing himself really, owns the screen. It’s about manhood, honor codes, loss, and resilience – rendered in sensitive, nuanced, and heartfelt ways. It feels like it could be about large swaths of America today. Really powerful.

August 16, 2018

What I’m listening to:

In my Spotify Daily Mix was Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman, one of the world’s greatest love songs. Go online and read the story of how the song was discovered and recorded. There are competing accounts, but Sledge said he improvised it after a bad breakup. It has that kind of aching spontaneity. It is another hit from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, one of the GREAT music hotbeds, along with Detroit, Nashville, and Memphis. Our February Board meeting is in Alabama and I may finally have to do the pilgrimage road trip to Muscle Shoals and then Memphis, dropping in for Sunday services at the church where Rev. Al Green still preaches and sings. If the music is all like this, I will be saved.

What I’m reading:

John Banville’s Mrs. Osmond, his homage to literary idol Henry James and an imagined sequel to James’ 1881 masterpiece Portrait of a Lady. Go online and read the first paragraph of Chapter 25. He is…profoundly good. Makes me want to never write again, since anything I attempt will feel like some other, lowly activity in comparison to his mastery of language, image, syntax. This is slow reading, every sentence to be savored.

What I’m watching:

I’ve always respected Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but we just watched the documentary RGB. It is over-the-top great and she is now one of my heroes. A superwoman in many ways and the documentary is really well done. There are lots of scenes of her speaking to crowds and the way young women, especially law students, look at her is touching. And you can’t help but fall in love with her now late husband Marty. See this movie and be reminded of how important is the Law.

July 23, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spotify’s Summer Acoustic playlist has been on repeat quite a lot. What a fun way to listen to artists new to me, including The Paper Kites, Hollow Coves, and Fleet Foxes, as well as old favorites like Leon Bridges and Jose Gonzalez. Pretty chill when dialing back to a summer pace, dining on the screen porch or reading a book.

What I’m reading:

Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson tells of the racial injustice (and the war on the poor our judicial system perpetuates as well) that he discovered as a young graduate from Harvard Law School and his fight to address it. It is in turn heartbreaking, enraging, and inspiring. It is also about mercy and empathy and justice that reads like a novel. Brilliant.

What I’m watching:

Fauda. We watched season one of this Israeli thriller. It was much discussed in Israel because while it focuses on an ex-special agent who comes out of retirement to track down a Palestinian terrorist, it was willing to reveal the complexity, richness, and emotions of Palestinian lives. And the occasional brutality of the Israelis. Pretty controversial stuff in Israel. Lior Raz plays Doron, the main character, and is compelling and tough and often hard to like. He’s a mess. As is the world in which he has to operate. We really liked it, and also felt guilty because while it may have been brave in its treatment of Palestinians within the Israeli context, it falls back into some tired tropes and ultimately falls short on this front.

June 11, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Like everyone else, I’m listening to Pusha T drop the mic on Drake. Okay, not really, but do I get some points for even knowing that? We all walk around with songs that immediately bring us back to a time or a place. Songs are time machines. We are coming up on Father’s Day. My own dad passed away on Father’s Day back in 1994 and I remembering dutifully getting through the wake and funeral and being strong throughout. Then, sitting alone in our kitchen, Don Henley’s The End of the Innocence came on and I lost it. When you lose a parent for the first time (most of us have two after all) we lose our innocence and in that passage, we suddenly feel adult in a new way (no matter how old we are), a longing for our own childhood, and a need to forgive and be forgiven. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll understand. As Wordsworth reminds us in In Memoriam, there are seasons to our grief and, all these years later, this song no longer hits me in the gut, but does transport me back with loving memories of my father. I’ll play it Father’s Day.

What I’m reading:

The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin. I am not a reader of fantasy or sci-fi, though I understand they can be powerful vehicles for addressing the very real challenges of the world in which we actually live. I’m not sure I know of a more vivid and gripping illustration of that fact than N. K. Jemisin’s Hugo Award winning novel The Fifth Season, first in her Broken Earth trilogy. It is astounding. It is the fantasy parallel to The Underground Railroad, my favorite recent read, a depiction of subjugation, power, casual violence, and a broken world in which our hero(s) struggle, suffer mightily, and still, somehow, give us hope. It is a tour de force book. How can someone be this good a writer? The first 30 pages pained me (always with this genre, one must learn a new, constructed world, and all of its operating physics and systems of order), and then I could not put it down. I panicked as I neared the end, not wanting to finish the book, and quickly ordered the Obelisk Gate, the second novel in the trilogy, and I can tell you now that I’ll be spending some goodly portion of my weekend in Jemisin’s other world.

What I’m watching:

The NBA Finals and perhaps the best basketball player of this generation. I’ve come to deeply respect LeBron James as a person, a force for social good, and now as an extraordinary player at the peak of his powers. His superhuman play during the NBA playoffs now ranks with the all-time greats, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, MJ, Kobe, and the demi-god that was Bill Russell. That his Cavs lost in a 4-game sweep is no surprise. It was a mediocre team being carried on the wide shoulders of James (and matched against one of the greatest teams ever, the Warriors, and the Harry Potter of basketball, Steph Curry) and, in some strange way, his greatness is amplified by the contrast with the rest of his team. It was a great run.

May 24, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I’ve always liked Alicia Keys and admired her social activism, but I am hooked on her last album Here. This feels like an album finally commensurate with her anger, activism, hope, and grit. More R&B and Hip Hop than is typical for her, I think this album moves into an echelon inhabited by a Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Beyonce’s Formation. Social activism and outrage rarely make great novels, but they often fuel great popular music. Here is a terrific example.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad may be close to a flawless novel. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer, it chronicles the lives of two runaway slaves, Cora and Caeser, as they try to escape the hell of plantation life in Georgia. It is an often searing novel and Cora is one of the great heroes of American literature. I would make this mandatory reading in every high school in America, especially in light of the absurd revisionist narratives of “happy and well cared for” slaves. This is a genuinely great novel, one of the best I’ve read, the magical realism and conflating of time periods lifts it to another realm of social commentary, relevance, and a blazing indictment of America’s Original Sin, for which we remain unabsolved.

What I’m watching:

I thought I knew about The Pentagon Papers, but The Post, a real-life political thriller from Steven Spielberg taught me a lot, features some of our greatest actors, and is so timely given the assault on our democratic institutions and with a presidency out of control. It is a reminder that a free and fearless press is a powerful part of our democracy, always among the first targets of despots everywhere. The story revolves around the legendary Post owner and D.C. doyenne, Katharine Graham. I had the opportunity to see her son, Don Graham, right after he saw the film, and he raved about Meryl Streep’s portrayal of his mother. Liked it a lot more than I expected.

April 27, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I mentioned John Prine in a recent post and then on the heels of that mention, he has released a new album, The Tree of Forgiveness, his first new album in ten years. Prine is beloved by other singer songwriters and often praised by the inscrutable God that is Bob Dylan. Indeed, Prine was frequently said to be the “next Bob Dylan” in the early part of his career, though he instead carved out his own respectable career and voice, if never with the dizzying success of Dylan. The new album reflects a man in his 70s, a cancer survivor, who reflects on life and its end, but with the good humor and empathy that are hallmarks of Prine’s music. “When I Get To Heaven” is a rollicking, fun vision of what comes next and a pure delight. A charming, warm, and often terrific album.

What I’m reading:

I recently read Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, on many people’s Top Ten lists for last year and for good reason. It is sprawling, multi-generational, and based in the world of Japanese occupied Korea and then in the Korean immigrant’s world of Oaska, so our key characters become “tweeners,” accepted in neither world. It’s often unspeakably sad, and yet there is resiliency and love. There is also intimacy, despite the time and geographic span of the novel. It’s breathtakingly good and like all good novels, transporting.

What I’m watching:

I adore Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth, and while I’m not sure his Shape of Water is better, it is a worthy follow up to the earlier masterpiece (and more of a commercial success). Lots of critics dislike the film, but I’m okay with a simple retelling of a Beauty and the Beast love story, as predictable as it might be. The acting is terrific, it is visually stunning, and there are layers of pain as well as social and political commentary (the setting is the US during the Cold War) and, no real spoiler here, the real monsters are humans, the military officer who sees over the captured aquatic creature. It is hauntingly beautiful and its depiction of hatred to those who are different or “other” is painfully resonant with the time in which we live. Put this on your “must see” list.

March 18, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Sitting on a plane for hours (and many more to go; geez, Australia is far away) is a great opportunity to listen to new music and to revisit old favorites. This time, it is Lucy Dacus and her album Historians, the new sophomore release from a 22-year old indie artist that writes with relatable, real-life lyrics. Just on a second listen and while she insists this isn’t a break up record (as we know, 50% of all great songs are break up songs), it is full of loss and pain. Worth the listen so far. For the way back machine, it’s John Prine and In Spite of Ourselves (that title track is one of the great love songs of all time), a collection of duets with some of his “favorite girl singers” as he once described them. I have a crush on Iris Dement (for a really righteously angry song try her Wasteland of the Free), but there is also EmmyLou Harris, the incomparable Dolores Keane, and Lucinda Williams. Very different albums, both wonderful.

What I’m reading:

Jane Mayer’s New Yorker piece on Christopher Steele presents little that is new, but she pulls it together in a terrific and coherent whole that is illuminating and troubling at the same time. Not only for what is happening, but for the complicity of the far right in trying to discredit that which should be setting off alarm bells everywhere. Bob Mueller may be the most important defender of the democracy at this time. A must read.

What I’m watching:

Homeland is killing it this season and is prescient, hauntingly so. Russian election interference, a Bannon-style hate radio demagogue, alienated and gun toting militia types, and a president out of control. It’s fabulous, even if it feels awfully close to the evening news.

March 8, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We have a family challenge to compile our Top 100 songs. It is painful. Only 100? No more than three songs by one artist? Wait, why is M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” on my list? Should it just be The Clash from whom she samples? Can I admit to guilty pleasure songs? Hey, it’s my list and I can put anything I want on it. So I’m listening to the list while I work and the song playing right now is Tom Petty’s “The Wild One, Forever,” a B-side single that was never a hit and that remains my favorite Petty song. Also, “Evangeline” by Los Lobos. It evokes a night many years ago, with friends at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA, when everyone danced well past 1AM in a hot, sweaty, packed club and the band was a revelation. Maybe the best music night of our lives and a reminder that one’s 100 Favorite Songs list is as much about what you were doing and where you were in your life when those songs were playing as it is about the music. It’s not a list. It’s a soundtrack for this journey.

What I’m reading:

Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy was in the NY Times top ten books of 2017 list and it is easy to see why. Lockwood brings remarkable and often surprising imagery, metaphor, and language to her prose memoir and it actually threw me off at first. It then all became clear when someone told me she is a poet. The book is laugh aloud funny, which masks (or makes safer anyway) some pretty dark territory. Anyone who grew up Catholic, whether lapsed or not, will resonate with her story. She can’t resist a bawdy anecdote and her family provides some of the most memorable characters possible, especially her father, her sister, and her mother, who I came to adore. Best thing I’ve read in ages.

What I’m watching:

The Florida Project, a profoundly good movie on so many levels. Start with the central character, six-year old (at the time of the filming) Brooklynn Prince, who owns – I mean really owns – the screen. This is pure acting genius and at that age? Astounding. Almost as astounding is Bria Vinaite, who plays her mother. She was discovered on Instagram and had never acted before this role, which she did with just three weeks of acting lessons. She is utterly convincing and the tension between the child’s absolute wonder and joy in the world with her mother’s struggle to provide, to be a mother, is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. Willem Dafoe rightly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role. This is a terrific movie.

February 12, 2018

What I’m listening to:

So, I have a lot of friends of age (I know you’re thinking 40s, but I just turned 60) who are frozen in whatever era of music they enjoyed in college or maybe even in their thirties. There are lots of times when I reach back into the catalog, since music is one of those really powerful and transporting senses that can take you through time (smell is the other one, though often underappreciated for that power). Hell, I just bought a turntable and now spending time in vintage vinyl shops. But I’m trying to take a lesson from Pat, who revels in new music and can as easily talk about North African rap music and the latest National album as Meet the Beatles, her first ever album. So, I’ve been listening to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy winning Damn. While it may not be the first thing I’ll reach for on a winter night in Maine, by the fire, I was taken with it. It’s layered, political, and weirdly sensitive and misogynist at the same time, and it feels fresh and authentic and smart at the same time, with music that often pulled me from what I was doing. In short, everything music should do. I’m not a bit cooler for listening to Damn, but when I followed it with Steely Dan, I felt like I was listening to Lawrence Welk. A good sign, I think.

What I’m reading:

I am reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Leonardo da Vinci. I’m not usually a reader of biographies, but I’ve always been taken with Leonardo. Isaacson does not disappoint (does he ever?), and his subject is at once more human and accessible and more awe-inspiring in Isaacson’s capable hands. Gay, left-handed, vegetarian, incapable of finishing things, a wonderful conversationalist, kind, and perhaps the most relentlessly curious human being who has ever lived. Like his biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, Isaacson’s project here is to show that genius lives at the intersection of science and art, of rationality and creativity. Highly recommend it.

What I’m watching:

We watched the This Is Us post-Super Bowl episode, the one where Jack finally buys the farm. I really want to hate this show. It is melodramatic and manipulative, with characters that mostly never change or grow, and it hooks me every damn time we watch it. The episode last Sunday was a tear jerker, a double whammy intended to render into a blubbering, tissue-crumbling pathetic mess anyone who has lost a parent or who is a parent. Sterling K. Brown, Ron Cephas Jones, the surprising Mandy Moore, and Milo Ventimiglia are hard not to love and last season’s episode that had only Brown and Cephas going to Memphis was the show at its best (they are by far the two best actors). Last week was the show at its best worst. In other words, I want to hate it, but I love it. If you haven’t seen it, don’t binge watch it. You’ll need therapy and insulin.

January 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Drive-By Truckers. Chris Stapleton has me on an unusual (for me) country theme and I discovered these guys to my great delight. They’ve been around, with some 11 albums, but the newest one is fascinating. It’s a deep dive into Southern alienation and the white working-class world often associated with our current president. I admire the willingness to lay bare, in kick ass rock songs, the complexities and pain at work among people we too quickly place into overly simple categories. These guys are brave, bold, and thoughtful as hell, while producing songs I didn’t expect to like, but that I keep playing. And they are coming to NH.

What I’m reading:

A textual analog to Drive-By Truckers by Chris Stapleton in many ways is Tony Horowitz’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning Confederates in the Attic. Ostensibly about the Civil War and the South’s ongoing attachment to it, it is prescient and speaks eloquently to the times in which we live (where every southern state but Virginia voted for President Trump). Often hilarious, it too surfaces complexities and nuance that escape a more recent, and widely acclaimed, book like Hillbilly Elegy. As a Civil War fan, it was also astonishing in many instances, especially when it blows apart long-held “truths” about the war, such as the degree to which Sherman burned down the south (he did not). Like D-B Truckers, Horowitz loves the South and the people he encounters, even as he grapples with its myths of victimhood and exceptionalism (and racism, which may be no more than the racism in the north, but of a different kind). Everyone should read this book and I’m embarrassed I’m so late to it.

What I��m watching:

David Letterman has a new Netflix show called “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” and we watched the first episode, in which Letterman interviewed Barack Obama. It was extraordinary (if you don’t have Netflix, get it just to watch this show); not only because we were reminded of Obama’s smarts, grace, and humanity (and humor), but because we saw a side of Letterman we didn’t know existed. His personal reflections on Selma were raw and powerful, almost painful. He will do five more episodes with “extraordinary individuals” and if they are anything like the first, this might be the very best work of his career and one of the best things on television.

December 22, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished Sunjeev Sahota’s Year of the Runaways, a painful inside look at the plight of illegal Indian immigrant workers in Britain. It was shortlisted for 2015 Man Booker Prize and its transporting, often to a dark and painful universe, and it is impossible not to think about the American version of this story and the terrible way we treat the undocumented in our own country, especially now.

What I’m watching:

Season II of The Crown is even better than Season I. Elizabeth’s character is becoming more three-dimensional, the modern world is catching up with tradition-bound Britain, and Cold War politics offer more context and tension than we saw in Season I. Claire Foy, in her last season, is just terrific – one arched eye brow can send a message.

What I’m listening to:

A lot of Christmas music, but needing a break from the schmaltz, I’ve discovered Over the Rhine and their Christmas album, Snow Angels. God, these guys are good.

November 14, 2017

What I’m watching:

Guiltily, I watch the Patriots play every weekend, often building my schedule and plans around seeing the game. Why the guilt? I don’t know how morally defensible is football anymore, as we now know the severe damage it does to the players. We can’t pretend it’s all okay anymore. Is this our version of late decadent Rome, watching mostly young Black men take a terrible toll on each other for our mere entertainment?

What I’m reading:

Recently finished J.G. Ballard’s 2000 novel Super-Cannes, a powerful depiction of a corporate-tech ex-pat community taken over by a kind of psychopathology, in which all social norms and responsibilities are surrendered to residents of the new world community. Kept thinking about Silicon Valley when reading it. Pretty dark, dystopian view of the modern world and centered around a mass killing, troublingly prescient.

What I’m listening to:

Was never really a Lorde fan, only knowing her catchy (and smarter than you might first guess) pop hit “Royals” from her debut album. But her new album, Melodrama, is terrific and it doesn’t feel quite right to call this “pop.” There is something way more substantial going on with Lorde and I can see why many critics put this album at the top of their Best in 2017 list. Count me in as a huge fan.

November 3, 2017

What I’m reading: Just finished Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, her breathtakingly good second novel. How is someone so young so wise? Her writing is near perfection and I read the book in two days, setting my alarm for 4:30AM so I could finish it before work.

What I’m watching: We just binge watched season two of Stranger Things and it was worth it just to watch Millie Bobbie Brown, the transcendent young actor who plays Eleven. The series is a delightful mash up of every great eighties horror genre you can imagine and while pretty dark, an absolute joy to watch.

What I’m listening to: I’m not a lover of country music (to say the least), but I love Chris Stapleton. His “The Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning” is heartbreakingly good and reminds me of the old school country that played in my house as a kid. He has a new album and I can’t wait, but his From A Room: Volume 1 is on repeat for now.

September 26, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished George Saunder’s Lincoln in the Bardo. It took me a while to accept its cadence and sheer weirdness, but loved it in the end. A painful meditation on loss and grief, and a genuinely beautiful exploration of the intersection of life and death, the difficulty of letting go of what was, good and bad, and what never came to be.

What I’m watching:

HBO’s The Deuce. Times Square and the beginning of the porn industry in the 1970s, the setting made me wonder if this was really something I’d want to see. But David Simon is the writer and I’d read a menu if he wrote it. It does not disappoint so far and there is nothing prurient about it.

What I’m listening to:

The National’s new album Sleep Well Beast. I love this band. The opening piano notes of the first song, “Nobody Else Will Be There,” seize me & I’m reminded that no one else in music today matches their arrangement & musicianship. I’m adding “Born to Beg,” “Slow Show,” “I Need My Girl,” and “Runaway” to my list of favorite love songs.

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rachelbelitardoblog · 7 years ago

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Really like Him Or Depart Him?

Eleven Sincere Issues To Inquire By yourself About Your Connection

If you are like me, your women are your go-to. They provide vogue recommendations: “Seriously? That leading with that skirt? No.” They provide work out information: “I believe if we start out carrying out two-a-days until eventually the weekend, we’ll seem like Victoria’s Secret designs by Saturday.” Most significantly, they provide existence recommendations: “Quit your task. Let’s be gypsies.”

Your women are a lot more than just acquaintances; they are really your soul sisters. However, these are typically hopeless romantics and "Sex and also the City"-addicted take pleasure in zombies, so it may be very hard for them to assist you certainly assess your recent relationships with no supplying you with the black and white selection to “love him or depart him.”

Thankfully for you personally, I'm prepared to be the buddy you'll need for when you have reached a partnership fork within the street, or maybe, just desire a actuality check out just before generating the very best (or quite possibly, worst) selection of the existence.

I think in really like greater than I think in something else during the planet. I also think also many of us settle considering that they do not inquire themselves the hard queries they should certainly in advance of they make the “love him or depart him” selection.

Right here are these eleven concerns:

one. Does he deliver out the top in you? Most of us possess elegance and feel it or not, many of us also possess unsightly. The individual with whom you select to shell out the remainder of your lifestyle must magnify your strengths and stability out your weaknesses. He need to make you are feeling like not just the top edition of on your own, however the truest edition, at the same time.

In case you needed to summarize your self in just 5 attributes, what would you like them to become? Now, imagine regarding the attributes that your major other brings out in you. Do they align? How would he describe you? Once the attributes you strive to possess grow to be the characteristics you possess, accurate harmony gets feasible.

two. Does he make you wish to be a greater person/friend/sister/employee? I’ve realized that once we come to feel fulfilled and accepted specifically as we're, we have a tendency to turn into greater versions of ourselves. Whenever we truly feel unappreciated and misunderstood, we struggle to exist as we're. Real happiness fills hearts with a lot joy that it overflows in to the relationships that surround us.

Have your relationships outdoors in the a single along with your recent spouse flourished or suffered considering that you have been collectively? The adore of one's daily life will want you to nurture relationships which have been necessary for you as opposed to need your complete and undivided interest.

In case you come across by yourself skipping out on girls’ nights, missing your nephew’s t-ball video games and building excuses for leaving relatives dinners early considering that you have been created to truly feel guilty for not paying all your time along with your considerable other, it could possibly be time for you to reassess.

three. Does he make the ordinary look extraordinary? Each and every particular person features a distinctive view of your suitable date, the ideal approach to shell out a weekend as well as a fantasy holiday location, but in relation to day-to-day routines, how can you commit your time?

Do you investigate collectively, go on adventures with each other and, most significantly, delight in executing daily duties with each other, this kind of as likely to the grocery retail outlet or folding your laundry?

Some may laugh at this query, however the rest of the lifestyle may be a lengthy time for you to shell out with somebody you really do not take pleasure in engaging in the mundane with. It is astounding just how much far more exciting “chores” could very well be when you find yourself carrying out them with a person you really like.

four. Does he make you're feeling safe and sound? Although it is good to come to feel protected using the comfort of beefy arms, the security to which I'm referring will involve your emotions and feelings.

Does he make you are feeling protected after you need to have to share a little something that is been in your thoughts, reassess a problem that occurred at operate or as soon as you just need to have another person to pay attention? Does he make you're feeling safe and sound to chase your dreams and find out your passions?

Women and men are extremely unique and have a tendency to cope with feelings extremely in a different way; even so, there may be a little something for being explained about a guy who chooses to pay attention, tries to know and secure your emotions.

five. Does he make you laugh? This may possibly be one particular in the most significant issues. Existence is way also quick to invest it staying really serious and there may be absolutely nothing far better than laughing right up until your abdomen cramps with somebody who demonstrates a weirdness just like your own personal.

We're all weird and goofy and many of us possess the capability to get fully hilarious from the eyes of someone that appreciates our particular type of humor.

The bottom line is the fact that existence is superior when you are laughing. What considerably better method to decide if you are with all the proper man or woman than to inquire on your own, “Does he make me laugh?”

six. Do you get pleasure from speaking to him? We target a lot over the location that we normally fail to discover each of the procedures it took to arrive. The best with the mountain may well be lovely, however the conversation over the hike up helps make the journey worthwhile.

Select to shell out your days with anyone you'll be able to speak with about something and nevertheless truly feel as if there is additional left to say.

I usually truly feel unhappy when I see a couple at a restaurant staring blankly at just about every other in silence, swirling their straws inside their glasses, as if there is genuinely almost nothing left to examine. Lifestyle is way as well prolonged to fill it with little speak.

seven. Does he calm your storms or develop your storms? The appreciate of the existence must be your heart’s resting location. The security during the chaos, rainbow following the rain as well as individual you recognize you are going to depart feeling considerably better than any time you started off.

All as well typically, consumers get caught in relationships that establish a lot more storms within their lives and devote the entire partnership endeavoring to calm them.

Lifestyle is difficult adequate because it is. We shouldn’t really need to shell out our days in relationships that only make it tougher. When you have had a awful day, to whom do you flip? While you cry, who wipes away the tears? The take pleasure in of the lifestyle should certainly devote alot more time bringing sunshine other than rain for your daily life. eight. Do you respect a single one more? Respect is probably the most significant characteristics to possess within a romance. For those who respect an individual, you can very likely not embarrass him in front of other people.

If you ever respect anyone, you'll opt for to come straight to him once you possess a situation, instead of speaking about it to everybody else primary.

Arguments observe a a lot extra constructive highway when respect is existing.

9. Do you battle exactly the same way? All people features a favored way for fighting and it is crucial that you just as well as your major other are compatible in conflict resolution. It will eventually not continually be rainbows and butterflies and difficulties will come up.

If two folks want to “fight” in fully opposite tactics, it might not get the job done while in the prolonged run. Many people desire to obtain heated, scream it out and say factors they’ll regret later on on as a way to come to feel understood.

A number of people shut down wholly and demand time for you to interesting off and feel about issues, despite the fact that some others need to have to talk about the circumstance quickly and truly feel harm when their spouse says he requires a while or room.

A number of people desire to sit down and also have lengthy discussions about every single small detail of the condition just before they really feel superior, whilst others would rather just forgive and fail to remember and move forward. It is essential to inquire on your own the way you deal with conflicts together with the men and women you really like.

ten. Does he challenge you? All as well regularly, men and women turned out to be complacent in relationships. Does your romantic relationship challenge you mentally, physically and intellectually? Do you are feeling as if you find out from every other, develop with one particular one more and also have progressed each individually and collectively considering that you might have been with each other?

The really like of one's daily life will fuel your passions in order that you can actually pursue the matters you discover meaningful and can challenge you to find out new competencies the two of you possibly can pursue with each other.

eleven. Is he really good on paper or is he very good in individual? Do you adore HIM or even the Concept of him? It is so very easy to make a picture in the wonderful guy, only to understand the particular person in our minds does not exist. Be patient along with your heart and bear in mind of one's emotions.

For anybody who is forcing it, justifying it or consistently in search of approval for it, it may not be the ideal romantic relationship to suit your needs. Do not waste time attempting to make sense of one's really enjoy, but rather, watch for the take pleasure in that just helps make sense.

simpatia para atrair o homem amado

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/omundodoscursosdigitais13/journal/view/id/5a613bd1039023203ac7d38a

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survivorniue · 8 years ago

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Ep 1: “Slay a Tiny Bit” - Kevin (Pt. 1)

KAIT

anywho i forgot this game was happening but i love forrest and kevin coming in. amanda......................and i don't get along anymore i don't think?? idk there was gross drama when i quit hos so that's fun beccause we kicked her out of out group chat. :))))) van is okay. the other freaks?? keep. when my buddies john coffey and jay are on the other tribe??? its' a conspiracy yea

JAY

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Finally in Pacific Islands! I had to decline Kanto because a lot of things were coming up for me, but I'm completely free for this season! And it's all newbs so that's fun. I like to do a cast assessment so i'll just do that :) Iloa: Ashley - MY QUEEN! I love her so much, I'm hosting her in Arrakis and she's so funny and great. I've actually already aligned with her less than an hour into this game. Charlotte - She just showed up and said "Uhm hi", and still hasn't added me as a contact sooooo, I think she might be an inactive player. Dan - I have him as a contact but I don't really know him. Me - Thanks for giving me Kristie as an avatar <3 John Coffey - Ok, I'm pretty much aligned with him already too. He was the first boot of one of my main seasons, and I'm finally excited to finally get to play a game with him. Hopefully we'll meet up with Kait at a swap and get this Maslaysia alliance going. Ned - He's in band and I told him about how I was in band. That's it. Hopefully I talk with him again soon. Pat - I am ALSO hosting him in Arrakis. I'm pretty sure that I've been handed half this tribe on a silver platter. Maybe more if I can pull in Ned as a fifth. However, Pat is a bit of a snake and I think he's out next in Arrakis. Some Arrakis spoilers for you there. Sam - I've talked to her a few times before. I don't know her though. I just know people in the community like her. Miti: Amanda - I don't know her. Daniel - I don't know him either. Forrest - I've seen them in games but idk who they are really. Holden - Drew called him evil so i hope he goes. Kevin - He was mean to me at FTC in Motu Maha yesterday so bye </3 Kait - Wow my fave I can't wait for her to win a fourth ORG. Nicky - Idk ha Van - They won a main season so im gonna watch out 👀

JAY

I think I already have a pretty natural alliance coming along. Ashley is my number one by far, but I've been talking to Sam a lot, and she said she's only really talked with me and John. I said that it's the same for me, but also I've talked to Ashley. I think that's a solid four, and Pat can be number five. Nothing has been set in stone, but that's just the way it's looking. I think I'm set up well enough to at least survive until a swap or merge, as long as we don't completely flop in challenges. I really think Iloa is a strong tribe.

KEVIN

Whew time to start another season...which is another chance for me to flop, get ready for a huge disappointment. Whatever strategy I talked about in the signups was fake and garbage, similar to my actual gameplay. But um anyways time to write about people in this tribe (Miti I think? Whatever that means) Kait: literal mother who birthed me 15 years ago, I love her and I really really want to work with her. As of right now we have a two person alliance thing going on and maybe we can pull someone in (like Forrest). Most likely to kill me though. Forrest: talented brilliant showstopping human being who so far seems amazing and hilarious and I clicked really well with him honestly and I would like to work with him but that's another thing. Van: also clicked well with him even if our conversation was about college, he's nice I guess. Daniel: he's...there, I guess. He has a nice personality. Most likely to be a catfish. The others: who? This tribe is very quiet and boring rn. Ideally I could form a 3 person alliance thing but I'd have to wait a bit for that, don't wanna be too quick but I also wanna spice tribe life up sooner than later.

SAMANTHA

John Coffey is so cute

NICKY

Honestly, I'm a bit scared. I've played in games with Amanda and Van before. I hope they don't catch on to things that I normally do or say. I spent 50-something days with Van in Aeolian and ended up losing to them at FTC. I spent less time with Amanda, but we grew closer faster. This could be interesting.

NICKY

I'm the fact that I didn't see John on the other tribe. FUCKKKKK. I was/am close to John so if we get together at some point I know he'll probably see right through me.

KEVIN

What is Daniel doing honestly

KEVIN

My main question is who goes to bed at 9 pm on a weekend. I'm convinced he's a bot.

VAN

Someday day in early July, I stated in my final video confessional for Aeolian Islands that I didn’t think I’d ever play another ORG ever again because it was exhausting and emotionally draining. …. Well here I go again. So, I’m hoping to try and be a bit more active at the start of this game and attempt to be a little more strategic than I was in Aeolian but I kinda doubt it will happen lmao. We don’t have our challenge up yet which is good since I wanna work on getting to know these people on my tribe first. As of now I haven’t made any alliances because I’m not ready to get too messy yet. But I do have some cast impressions! Kait: Seems nice enough so far! We both love Micheala which is A+. I looked at the Wiki page and I noticed we’re both the oldest people in this game at the age of 23, so hey, that’s something. Maybe we could do an old people alliance idk Kevin: A small child I want to protect. JK JK but Kevin’s cool. Talked about college and school and stuff, and some Survivor too. Seems like someone I could work with. Forrest: I’m liking Forrest a lot, we talked about Survivor too and Forrest is also a Michele Fitzgerald lover so they’re cool with me! Daniel: [4:01:41 PM] Daniel Bouchard (SirDexterBlack): Okay [4:01:45 PM] Daniel Bouchard (SirDexterBlack): Challenge up in two hours [4:01:48 PM] Daniel Bouchard (SirDexterBlack): it's Reward [4:01:49 PM] Daniel Bouchard (SirDexterBlack): so [4:01:54 PM] Daniel Bouchard (SirDexterBlack): Let's get talking Um, impatient much? Maybe it’s just me and my chill personality not wanting to talk TOO much during this time where we’re all getting to know each but man, I’m not about this “let’s get talking” thing. Like, we talked a tiny bit but he didn’t seem like much of a talker last night. I’ll give him another chance later but I don’t think I can see myself meshing well with him as a game partner/alliance member. Or maybe this is just me getting annoyed too easy oh well Amanda: We had a short conversation that I’ll continue with after this challenge. Seems active and nice. Holden: Added me on Skype last night and I messed them back this afternoon. Haven’t heard anything back and I don’t think I’ve seen them in the tribe chat yet RIP Nicky: Added me today since they’ve been sick poor thing. We had a short conversation before the challenge. Haven't had a solid judgement yet but seems like a nice person. And another impression I need to make because I was just confused but I wasn’t questioning it. Ricky: Apparently Ricky isn’t a part of our tribe but is in the tribe chat anyway? I know Ricky is in Bangladesh right now. Good for him, hopefully he does well because he seems cool. Ok as for this other tribe I know like 2 of the people over there so here’s my impressions of them from VL’s or past games because why the heck not John Coffey: I am literally screaming that Coffey is in this game. We had a bit of an on/off working relationship in Aeolian. But he is also like one of my fav people ever. I’d love to work with Coffey again, but idk if the feeling is mutual. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there but even he if backstabs me later in the game that changes nothing. I love this nugget and I’ll always root for him <3 Ned: If this is the Canary Islands Ned then I’m aware of his existence thanks to the VL! I think in Canary he had an idol and didn’t play it and got voted out pre-merge RIP, and he’s currently playing in Bangladesh. He seemed like an alright guy from what I saw in the VL so I’ll keep my eye on him. As for this challenge, “Weeha”, I’m not sure how to feel about our odds. No one seems to understand the challenge? Daniel’s gonna be sleeping so he’ll sit this challenge out. Ok, works for me. Hopefully we can do decent in this challenge because it would be nice to not have to vote someone out so soon, but I'm not overly hopeful because Holden hasn't been around as far as I know RIP. As of right now, I don’t care much for Daniel and I’d probably want to take him out first in a perfect world. But Holden hasn’t said anything in the chat or to me, so who knows if this dude is even playing or even TRYING to be active. Feels fairer to the actives to stay in the game that someone who hasn’t said a peep, you know? We still have a challenge to do though, so one step at a time!

KEVIN

If this tribe was a spice it'd be flour honestly it is SO quiet and I'm pretty sure Holden died or something bc where is he??? We just don't know. I try to have conversations in the chat but well they...die! Don't say I didn't try at least

#thisisneweh #confessionals

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thesnhuup · 5 years ago

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Pop Picks – November 25, 2019

With both plays, I was reminded of the magic that is live theater.