#i just hope he has different color edit styles. i saw in the trailer he has a jacket style

[fortnitey]

guys do you think 1-ball only has. umm he only has 1. ball

[pla-teau]

WANDAVISION EPISODE SEVEN THOUGHTS

GIF NOT MINE

SPOILERS AHEAD YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL MORE LIKE BREAKING MY BRAIN AND HEART

wanda’s mood | as she talks to the camera, she treats her expanding the false world she’s created to having a bad night out. we’re seeing how tired she is from expanding westview - it damn near drained her it seems. the last episode was a lot to take in, keeping up with her torn emotions with pietro, her relationship with vision crumbling, worrying about her kids, expanding the hex — it’s enough to fry out your nerves. wanda also categorizes what happened in the last episode as reckless and decides to stay in to punish herself. even her kids notice that she’s out of it because she doesn’t stop them from fighting and doesn’t say a word as she heads to the kitchen. she’s drained, she’s tired - she doesn’t want to deal with anything today. wanda’s not being the doting mom she’s been since the birth of the twins as when billy talks about his head being too noisy, she ignores his complaints and lounges in bed a little longer. she’s drained and is acting out of character throughout the whole episode.

wanda’s reality is starting to break | right off the bat, we see how the reality in westview is going haywire. the boys mention their game freaking out. it switches to games from different eras. then we see it with wanda’s milk - switching from black and white to color and even changing shape to fit the style of a past era like 50s with the milk being in glass bottle or a milk carton with the ‘missing’ label on the side. we’ve seen the trailer/promo footage of different objects/furniture in the house glitching in this same manner and it seems that wanda’s power is not strong enough to keep everything together - physically or mentally so it seems in this episode.

“thanks for tuning in to W.N.D.A.” | as wanda is in the kitchen making herself some cereal, you can hear the tv from the living room say this. this sets up the opening credits for the show as everything is about wanda. if you turn on the subtitles, you can read exactly what the anchor is saying on the television. he says “not a thing weighing heavily on your conscience. i hope your little ghosts arrived home safe last night. it’s always such a treat to see those creepy kiddos out and about once a year.” it seems as though it’s wanda’s mind we’re hearing. nothing’s weighing heavily on her conscience - kinda is with expanding the hex. the little ghosts is in reference to all the kids that we finally saw come out for halloween in westview. calling them creepy kiddos could mean nothing but i thought about tommy and billy? since the two gained their abilities on halloween and weren’t doing much to conceal their powers (at least tommy wasn’t). i also say it’s wanda’s mind we’re gaining insight to cause when it goes on to the bit about giving tips about resisting temptation of the leftover candy or just eating it all - wanda is skeptical of what’s happening with the milk but still takes a big spoonful of cereal.

opening credits | we don’t have some super catchy lyrics this time around for the opening credits of the show - making me think that this is a nod to the office. but we do get ‘wanda’ splattered in every frame of the credits. the one that stands out to me is the ‘i know what u are doing wanda’ since everything else it seems to be replacing random words on signs like restaurants and other shops. comes off as a tad bit scary/creepy since it’s written with cut out letters from different new articles/magazines. could be a hint to vision knowing that it is all wanda’s doing. or as we later find out, it can be a set up to agnes’ reveal since she plays a more sinister role in all of this. this is the first we’re seeing any sort of credits in the opening sequence. created by wanda maximoff - again driving home the fact that the hex and everything we’ve seen so far has all been wanda’s creation or so we’re forced to believe...

SWORD retreat | we learn that the broadcast has been taken down - all they get is dead air supposedly. maybe that’s just a result of wanda’s expansion of the hex but i think it’s too weak given how har out they are and since they are farther from wanda as she doesn’t live right at the edge of town. we also learn that haydick hayward is planning to launch a missile or some kind of powerful weapon on/in to the hex to stop wanda. let’s hope it fails or if it goes through, wanda can point the missile/weapon back at SWORD and let it go.

“if he doesn’t wanna be here, there’s nothing i can do about it.” | wanda’s comment about vision not being home and response to billy asking if they should go looking for him. this clearly speaks to wanda not having any control over vision anymore. this is the first time we’ve seen the couple apart for the entirety of the episode. he’s gained enough sentience within the hex to not be controlled by wanda as other residents are. she knows she can’t rewrite or edit the scene for him to suddenly come through the door and have everyone be a happy family.

“he is not your uncle.” | wanda confirms to us that the pietro we’ve seen so far is a stranger and not some multiverse version of her dead brother. this to me also shoots down the theory of the multiverse existing at this point and wanda being responsible for it even though evan peters does play pietro in the x-men universe. i think it was a wink to fans about marvel gaining rights to the x-men franchise. i could be wrong but until then, ‘uncle p’ is sus to me.

“i don’t have all the answers” | wanda going on about how despite being their mother, she doesn’t have all the answers. this is the third time wanda’s been asked about the truth and she doesn’t have an answer. first with vision when he asks how all this happened. second with ‘pietro’ also asking how she created westview. now, it’s the twins seeking answers about their not-uncle if she’s claiming he’s an imposter and a liar. if anything, wanda has been consistent in this claim of not knowing anything. she knows she created westview but she doesn’t know how it got to be this way. i still believe she was offered something or was taken advantage of from the get go by someone else to get to her and observe how powerful she is. i personally love the twins’ reaction to her speaking on not having all the answers. hello yes i love them.

hayward’s interest in vision | we learn that project cataract is/was hayward’s plan to bring vision back to life. this man was trying to make vision into a weapon for SWORD and that’s why he’s so focused on vision inside the hex. wanda somehow brought him back to life despite hayward’s various attempts. i hate this man and i’m sorry but i hope monica and/or wanda beat the shit out of him. obviously, hayward was using SWORD’s resources to try and bring vision back to life but it’s a question of whether or not other people within SWORD knew this was happening and what the intentions were. because we also have monica’s contact be another agent working in SWORD. so why do i get the feeling that we’re gonna be dealing with a SHIELD 2.0 in which bad guys operate within the agency and it’s going to eventually fall like 2014?

“do you think maybe this is what you deserve?” | the interviewer asking wanda this question after we see her house starting to glitch like there’s no tomorrow. while later we do find out agnes is behind the mic, it made me think that this was mephisto finally coming out a bit since the question is very pointed at wanda. the interviewer wants to see wanda suffer because why would anyone ask such a thing let alone say that? they’re taking joy in wanda losing touch with her reality. this is the lowest we’ve seen wanda throughout the series. she’s usually put together - has a slight moment of crisis - but gets back on her feet for tomorrow to enjoy her life with her family. slowly it’s been building up to this point in which wanda just...crashes. she’s lost control in this reality so for the interviewer to pose that question, it’s a signal that someone else is in charge and going to come for wanda at her weakest.

the nexus commercial | this commercial is definitely referencing wanda during infinity war/endgame. the world goes on without you? could be talking about how the world keeps spinning after wanda lost the only family she had left or how everyone moved on in endgame despite losing the person she wanted to spend her life with. wanting to be left alone? all wanda wanted was to be with vision and now to be left alone as she lives out her life with vision in westview. i know the word nexus itself has a double meaning in marvel. nexus was first name dropped in aou, with it being the center of the internet located in oslo. in the comics, i know wanda is referred to as a nexus being in which this could definitely set up the multiverse as the commercial does state that the medication ‘anchors you back to your reality. or the reality of your choice.’ i’m guessing this is on purpose since we’re conditioned to see everything marvel puts out or puts emphasis on to have a double meaning. maybe wanda discovering that she is a nexus being in multiverse of madness could be what the side effects are talking about. if she’s confirmed to be this being, she’d feel a lot of feelings, confront her truth (maybe her role in westview and hopefully her trauma), seizing her destiny (taking control of her life and bigger role in the world), and possibly more depression (i don’t think she needs more of it but with her, it’s almost inevitable especially given where these next two weeks might be heading). given that it does hold two meanings for marvel, it could explain the scenes we’ve seen in promo footage of her time in sokovia with the mind stone. we were told that the show would explore more of wanda’s past from aou so maybe it is going to give nexus a double meaning in the mcu: the largest internet hub and wanda’s confirmation as a nexus being.

the twins with agnes | this scene had me anxious. billy commenting about it being quiet heavily hinted at how agnes isn’t like anyone else in westview. again, we’ve never seen her husband ralph and we still don’t see him in this episode. we get another glimpse of señor scratchy with billy holding him but that’s about it. the house is also a big contrast to wanda’s house and westview’s scenery overall. there’s usually a lot of light and warmth in westview but agnes’ interior is toned down and has darker tones throughout our time in it. clearly, a set up for the big reveal that everyone’s been echoing since the show started. this is also the last time we see the twins in the episode.

monica | after the SWORD rover failed to get through, monica goes right in and clearly her passing through a third time has a permanent effect. she’s finally got her powers and is more badass than before. i loved how we got bits and pieces from her, maria, carol and fury in captain marvel. monica has been one of the best characters in this series and i can’t wait to see what happens next with her.

it’s all about vision | monica’s explanation to wanda about hayward. i said this before about the end credits in the show always zooming in on vision’s eye to segway into the crystal sequence. we’ve learned that hayward was trying to bring vision back and somehow wanda managed to do this once she took his body. i wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the season we see vision being the key to saving everyone in westview since hayward just wants what he believes is his and is willing to blow up a whole town to get it or cover his tracks. while this whole series has been focusing on wanda, this all boils down to vision.

agatha all along | of course the big reveal is agnes being agatha harkness and the mastermind behind a lot of the weird occurrences in westview. what is interesting is that she’s choosing to reveal herself to wanda in this way. it doesn’t seem like it was her plan to do it at the time she did but seeing that monica could’ve swayed wanda to go off script in agatha’s plans, better sooner than later. i think señor scratchy is none other than mephisto and maybe in the next episode we’ll see the other big bad reveal himself to wanda and us. when’s that bop dropping on spotify

snooper’s gonna snoop | finally, we get a post credits scene with uncle p and monica. we’ve learned that agatha was behind the ‘recasting’ of pietro but who is he?! he could be a multiverse!quicksilver we’ve never seen before - which could explain his skewed memories with wanda. right when the camera comes to view with monica, it cuts to the credits. i believe that maybe this pietro shapeshifts into who he really is - who this might be? i don’t think mephisto but possibly agatha’s son nicholas scratch since he seems to be an accomplice of hers?

ugh god so much to unpack and we have another two episodes before shit really hits the fan.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

“So Happy Together” Analysis

i don’t sleep

tl;dr: tbh not much to go off on about. i think we see a new skin for Iron Bear, one with some stripes. amara smiles, i do talk a little bit about little sisters in bioshock but tbh i think this was all just a stylistic choice lol. oh and handsome jack’s masks- probably Mount Jackmore. i don’t want to get to freaked out over jack returning, but damn gearbox lol u had me there for a second. im pretty sure it’s just a reused cut quest from bl2 that they never got to implement. 

EDIT: here’s all the cut content in bl2 (plus all the non-cut content as well for funsies). you can go to the cut quests and see the audio files for claptrap’s jackmore quest

holy shit can i just vomit all my emotions rn, they’re all good so imma do that so im rational when i start analyzing stuff okay? okay! 

holy shit that was fucking great and im really glad i tempered my expectations to something smaller than i thought because i feel bad for people expecting something huge, i was under the assumption we’d be getting a new mechanic that was like ‘choose ur +1 and they’ll be able to play the game with you if you’re both online even if they don’t have the game’ which was what someone said on reddit. altho im sure the poor company is gonna get spammed now with hate like ‘WTF YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE BUILT THIS UP AAAA’. not to lie, i was slightly disappointed it wasn’t a longer stream, but i mean if they’ve got nothing to announce, they’ve got nothing to announce and HEY! new trailer!!! gonna be combing thru on the assumption this has some easter eggs like the MoM trailer did, just in case. i thought it was a cute trailer, gearbox never explicitly said what it was gonna be, a lot people all just assumed what was gonna happen was a demo/beta which sucks so i hope this doesn’t negatively impact people’s perspective of the game. im staying off reddit for now bc when i first checked it people were pretty pissed and i dun need that negativity lmao

okay! emotions are LOCKED behind closed doors. i am shifting into study mode. here we go boys/girls/those of us who know better. haven’t done one of these in a while, let’s see if im rusty at all.

claptrap! and the skull on the chair which reminds me of tyreen’s “favorite skull��. 

tv says “we are under attack, please stand by”

and afaik claptrap is near the beginning of the game, you can see part of the recruitment center behind him when the camera pans.

im thinking there might be something in the roses, specifically the hand-drawn roses later on in the trailer. will be keeping an eye open for that.

this is specifically a jakobs brand chest. i really like the see-through aesthetic of it

intro area of the game again. possible hint to the opening cutscene? tbh i was worried that’s what we were about to get because i haven’t finished the roughs of my mock up lol

so what i didn’t notice my first time through is that you can then see claptrap, also being shown in the chest

waving up at the camera. that’s not trippy at all or anything lol

this car in the foreground (with no one driving it, mind you)

randomly combusts, looking quite like elpis in that one shot of the claptrap presents pandora trailer. wonder if that means it’s gonna ‘splode.

ohhh it spins. please no spin imma get motion sick blech

shot of some cultists. one appears to have a jetpack near the bottom right there

another explosion to the beat

the shock wave!!!! that’s awesome

shock nomads cultists are back. f in chat for our shields

another cultist seconds before he gets blown to bits

it cuts to black for a secco as it moves thru said explosion

another cultist, i assume a psycho

finally some good fucking angles

heh.

idk what i expected from someone who’s first action skill line i ever heard was them shouting MAGIC WALL!!! TAAAADAAAAAAAAH

as a side note

who is shooting those lasers

we see them coming from behind the VHs, but

there’s nothing there

SPOOKY~

they’re coming from... the wall???

tfw u shot urself in the foot on accident

amara is not amused

`is this some human custom i don’t understand yet`

also i hate that i’ve done this exact dance before when i took dance classes as a kid

with less style of course, i was like 7

moze is into it, hell yeah

this reminds me a lot of Kingsman. where all the blood is like fireworks and stuff. i wonder if that has anything to do with the psycho brainwashing. like little sisters in bioshock. they see roses instead of blood, right? maybe there’s something like that going on with the psychos

i’d certainly hope our vault hunters aren’t brainwashed, anyway.

this dude looking SHOCKED to see that tho, lmfao

i relate to this man on a spiritual level i stg

man he looks pissed

omfg lol

“um”

“i guess this is okay”

the body language in this is gold i am just having the time of my life

adsfdgfhgjhgfk

this is so cute

also in retrospect, i think this is one of the turrets we see on promethea. i wonder what it’s doing here!

moze u ok?

oh nvm she’s into it, look at her! she’s dancing! She’s Dancin’!

oooo one of the robots from the we are mayhem trailer! okay you can totally see why i think they’re jakobs, RIGHT???

iirc this is a maliwan soldier

man this is a crossover event, isn’t it?

i get it now. togetherness. i gotchu gearbox.

some maliwan ships in the sky. possibly sanc-iii on the right? or a ship of the same model as sanc-iii!

this is a magitek dropship, change my mind

eh, they both start with M, fuck it.

no idea what fl4k is doing here

mayyyybe shielding themselves from the ‘firework’/confetti shower

i like that the confetti explosions are backed up by purple, you know like eridium/slag/siren powers. seriously, maybe this is just how to cultists see us Vault Hunters and the mass murder.

at the very least, the psychos.

fl4k’s into it. i wish we knew the name of their skag, if it has one. i hope it does.

well now the lasers are coming from the other side! what the hell

moving on

i think this is the HBC from the speakers, plus im pretty sure that skull and the stained glass are the entrance to mouthpiece’s arena

we also get a different colored explosion. im paranoid jack is somehow making a return (please god no), so i’ll just note it’s the same color as his eyes.

AND the chests are vomiting out gold guns, which i think, gold-plated gear, is the cult’s way of signifying standing. which im sure is a tongue-in-cheek commentary as gearbox gives out a gold weapon pack as a pre-order bonus. no, like, it even shows up as an ad on the video

smh gearbox lmao

oh, also, the cultists are doing fuckin flying impressions

im not saying its a reference to the cultist with rakk wings on the cover, buuuut

bitch it might be lol

it’s an upside-down vault symbol! ive been trying to figure out what that is in those screens for the longest time!

back on promethea and we get to see fl4k’s spiderant in action

their skag, too, of course

the jabbermon in the back there, too! i wonder if they’re going to be shock or cryo. i would imagine shock given how they’re glowing

also i love the way the flowers look in contrast to the character models

moze is so happy aw

i love the way fl4k’s skag comes flying in and slides to a stop. such a good doggo ;-;

this is beautiful, i want it as a wallpaper

moze skipping? holy shit

100% verified the best thing i’ve ever seen

i lied. this is.

is this the fast travel station effect?

also! IB is looking a bit different

i wonder if this is a redesign or if IB is wearing a new skin moze picked out

pan over to zane who clearly doesn’t notice the being of darkness and horror in the doorway

oh also, we’re on eden-6 now. which would explain the fast travel effect

psychos dancing on the rooftops lol

oh god my eyes

nothing to really say here, i just like this screenshot

pink shields booyah

this is so fucking cute

we also get a better look at that one facility on eden-6

is that... red i see? >w> i won’t say it i won’t i won’t say it i swear i just- ATLAS

fuck

i like that zane’s clone spawns with his melee attachment

not AS excited as the real life version though

GB pls let this be a zane emote

is that a varkid? on eden-6?

wtf is a varkid doing on eden-6???

more shots of the facility btw. reminds me a lot of sanc-iii so maybe this actually is the supamax mfg construction facility like i originally thought. hmmmmmmm

ah yes, of course

holy shit what is this a reference to?

im told it’s the sex pistols

the back of the bullet turns into Athenas

pans in

amara!

enemy with a top hat on. some variation of/upgraded gravedigger? it’s like a psycho but recolored with blue pants and a top hat. you can see it fall off when amara shoots him

y’know, these guys

some rakk in the background

i am hoping bc this is a celebration of togetherness we’re seeing all enemies everywhere, not that the planets don’t have their own unique fauna.

she’s so happy omfg

oh, you want some?

Uhhh then there’s THIS sequence

they’re doing the flying thing again lmao

there’s also whatever that black blob is on the left. a spaceship maybe?

car wheel

all their eyes started glowing red. uh oh gamers

also another fast travel effect

hmmmm... zarpedon is that you??

back on pandora.

“super 87 racetrack”, maybe this is near that motorcade fast travel we saw?

huzzah! rainbows!

i do believe that’s sanctuary-iii

another ship. drop ship?

elpis is looking nice this time of year. definitely not explode-y. yet.

pret-ty sure that’s iron bear. moze is standing atop the tower lmao

also! back to it’s old paint scheme. looks like moze was using a skin or smth

we also have this. are my eyes failing me or is that a big cross on the left? could be where jack was buried. 

also i know there was cut content in bl2 about Mount Jackmore! and this looks like a Mount Jackmore to me. it’s a cut quest where claptrap asks you to basically ruin the thing. but since the quest was cut, it’s still here in bl3. maybe they’ll reintegrate the quest lol

i can’t imagine it being roland’s gravesite. because it looks like the below.

i do know we’re going to roland’s grave in bl3, but the statues don’t really match up. maybe it is and the statues were broken, or ruined or something and replaced by a cross. could be then that the gravesite was defaced with, well, the guy that killed him. 

im really hoping jack doesn’t make a return. im fine with dealing with what he set in motion, and his influence, and probably even some ECHO logs and movie trailers, but please, for the love of god, don’t actually bring him back, AI or otherwise. im really excited for the calypso twins, i’d really hate to see the focus shift back to that guy. he’s had his fingers in every borderlands game. it’s time to let him go.

idk what this is exactly. it looks like maybe that weird eye bot troy stands next to in the intro for the behind closed doors panel?

goodbye mr magical jakobs chest, it’s been real

the RC now has red drapes going down it. have those always been there? i don’t remember those

hmmmmmmmmm maybe we’re looking at it from the back 🤔

anyway, that’s all she wrote. i haven’t see any hidden morse code messages or anything yet, but if something surfaces, i’ll be sure to add it here.

[thisismycursed3rdblog]

Thoughts on “After” (2019)

Sorry I'm going to be 12 for a moment "Hardin" hehehehehe

Omg this voice over...yeah I can tell this use to be fanfiction (btw nothing wrong with fanfiction I write it just not about real people)

There's just...after.....TITLE CARD!!!

I question Tessa color scheme like everything is very washed out

Why did the mom sit in back of the car?

Steph's actress is very pretty also her look is great (maybe minus the earrings but they just aren't my style)

Tessa and Noah look related are they?

No one would talk like that in front of someone's mom they just met

"thanks I got it from the GAP" ....-_-

How to show that the mom is over protective....make her the worst from the start

Oh is Noah her boyfriend. ...ok then

Steph vapes.....you know she cool now

Same Steph Noah comes off as brother not boyfriend

"who brings books to college" is my school weird because everyone does??

You know if Tessa falls in love with some who is "bad" I think Steph would be the best option

I'm not judging her clothes because I don't dislike them but going a little heavy on the good girl vibe...

Who is new boy so far he seems nice .... Landon is his name

How did her clothes get so wet from where she put them

Ok her room is small she would have definitely notices him when she walked in

Hardin (hehe) you are being an ass

Also random British man in a movie where so far no one else is British

....what book you reading Hardin

Steph so far the best in the movie and no that's not just because I think she's attractive...yes it is

Oh it was The Great Gatsby. . They are right that is a good book

....I'm only 10 minutes in oh dear

At least Hardin is polite to people who work in the coffee shop

I can't stop looking at his eye brows

Steph / Tessa the couple we deserves

The song playing is called "Say Hoe" amazing

Steph kissing a girl....I wish that was me

Zed.....I wonder who you are based on sir... hmmmmmmmm

I wonder is Molly is supposed to be a bitch? *She said sarcastically"

Zed actor looks familiar *pauses movie*

Oh shit that's Joe from Glee

Being a virgin isn't really a big deal ok ...she just got out if highschool not like she's 35 and still a virgin

"oh sucks to suck"....-_- -_-

She didn't want to kiss you Hardin no reason to have such a pissed off face ....you don't even like her ...I think

Also Noah stop being so judgemental

She had literally a mouthful of vodka ...that's not like drinking really

Oh look a union jack ....wonder who's room this is maybe the one British man in the movie

 Tessa that's not your room ....stop touching other people's things

 Are you looking for something.....you drunk ....like what that wasn't a weird question to ask Tessa

Who wrote this movie like what

Good Tessa even if your boyfriend is a dick don't cheat on him with another dick

How did Hardin get on the roof

" I'm disappointed in you" oh fuck off...

He told her mom she went to the party....what Noah you suck

Noah so far the worst character

They really want to show off Hardin's tattoos

Hardin talking about books is annoying me as an English major ok

Oh look at me I'm Hardin and I'm so edgy with my thoughts on classic literature

I don't think either of them really read pride and prejudice

Oh course Landon and Hardin are kind of like step brothers

Steph best character!!!

Does Hardin only own black shirts and ripped jeans ( I mean same)

Hardin having a sudden change if heart....I don't trust this

Oh she just decided to go with him....why?

This seems like a very long drive

Bring her to the woods? That's not creepy at all ...oh wait yes it is very

He's wearing all black and she's wearing all white ...you aren't clever movie

Did she forgot that she hated him like yesterday

Ok this lake scene is a little cute

Nice doesn't not mean boring ....that's a red flags  ...run Tessa run

With different music this movie would be a horror film a swear

Don't kiss.....well now they're kissing ....stop it

This kiss scene is edited kind of strangely

These actor don't have the best chemistry not sure if that's the acting or the fault of the writing 

Let's see how long this movie plays before they have sex

You still have a boyfriend Tessa

This so far the most normal scene in the movie...this burger date scene

Also now I'm hungry

You said you didn't believe in love you edge lord

How did those guys know they where there

Also Molly why you such a bitch ....does she do anything else but be a bitch

Also Tessa just left her burger ... wasteful

Hardin you were almost a nice person for a full 15 minutes

This isn't Avril Lavigne singing ...sad (complicated is playing btw)

She just woke up and Hardin is in her bed staring at her ...I hope this is a dream.. this is creepy

You're here isn't the reaction one should have

Oh good it was dream

Dump Noah... please Tessa he's the worst

Hardin got his pissed off face again...

This scene went 0-100 very quick

Like was Jace being creepy....I think he was but it went by way to quick

I like Tessa bike

I'm confused.. that's right Tessa what happened

YOU CANT BE MAD AT HER BECAUSE SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND AFTER YOU BLOW HER OFF LIKE A DICK!!!

So he has daddy issue

This boy is like a yo-yo he keeps going from one extreme to the other

Red flag ....so many red flags

And they are kissing again

So Hardin is a dick to Tessa makes out with her like once and only nice to her when it's just the two of them...and now they are having sex.. ok then

Also like 51 minutes into the movie btw

Did they have sex ...maybe I don't know ....everything is filmed weird in this movie

How did he get there so fast

Also this break up scene is Tessa best scene acting wise just saying

Steph has a cute little music note tattoo

Steph/ Tessa the only ship I support

When did Hardin get her number?

Do Noah and her mom have like weekly chats or something

Oh now she's talking to Hardin....is she no longer mad at him...ok then 

Oh time for a backstory...I see

You barley know Hardin .....I don't get how she fell in love him

It should not be that easy to sneak into a building

Also you couldn't read to her in like your room on your bed or something

I kind of dig this movies soundtrack not going to lie

Ok Hardin jumping over the entrance and Tessa just talking through was funny I'll give them that

Oh this is they in love part of the movie I see

Like these two could be really cute if not for any other scene in this movie that involves other characters

Wait now are they having sex for the first time?

GET BETTER AT EDITING YOUR MOVIE PLEASE!!

Uugghh the mom showed up

First her daughter's not a kid anymore and like it's confusing we haven't seen her skip class or even do badly in school so I don't get where the mom is coming from at all

You can't make your daughter break up with her boyfriend

Ok yes Tessa tell you mom off....please she needed to hear that

Tessa did like nothing and her mom wants to just cut her off... I take it back the mom is now the worst person in this movie

Landon why are you in this movie....you haven't really done anything at all

"oooh she paint's" I don't know why that made me laugh

This relationship is moving very fast....they now live together or want to

Also I pretty sure his plans just living at another person house and hoping know one finds out

All these scenes look like they were just shot for the trailer

Not this again.....when did the first time happen

There's like 35 minutes left.....how long till the big break up or fight . .only for them to get back together at the very end

Wait his father's not British?

They really didn't want anyone out side of Hardin to be British

Oh now his dad's a drunk....why is this only being brought up now

I keep thinking one of them are going to fall in the pool

FALL IN THE POOL FALL IN THE POOL

Wait is this their first time having sex

I'm going with yes? Maybe

Ok so sex is definitely happening this time

Also wear protection ...at least movie promotes safe sex

Ok I love the look of that bath tub

Molly can all she do is be a bitch to Tessa

Hardin you better not be dating Molly

Also Tessa don't go snooping around in his phone 

Jace....still creepy

Blind bobs? ...ok

Steph best person ....she's just a good friend

Tessa just be with Steph she'd treat her right

Oh Hardin no please

Hardin.... nooooooooooooo

Hardin you fucker

Like I kind of saw it coming up still Hardin no

Slap him Tessa do it do it

Or just leave that works too

Also we got like 16 minutes before the movie ends so let's see how long till the get back together

I mean they shouldn't because not cool Hardin

Did she just leave....doesn't she have school

At least her mom isn't being a bitch at the moment

Now she's going to talk to Noah....just say your sorry do not get back with him ....he's still a dick

Still into this soundtrack

Oh here mom stop cutting her off that's good

I hope her and Steph make up and stay friends

Be sad Hardin you dick

Also why are all his books so nice looking

10 minutes almost done

So Tessa is following her dreams and Hardin is sitting on a roof sad....again ...ha

A professor can't just give other students work away ....also why does the professor know it was for Tessa

What even was this final project

Darcy and Heathcliff are very different characters and stories I'm just saying

There making a sequel so I'm guessing ending means it's going to work out in the end

Fade to black

[fadedtoblue]

Recap of the Defenders panel at SDCC, pt. 2 (aka just a beat by beat recap of episode 1...)

If you missed, it you can catch part 1 here. I’m sure you can find videos of the panel out now, but if you wanted my additional commentary, there you go, haha :).

I’ve been writing bits and pieces of this since Friday night, so needless to say, I’m starting to get a little fuzzy on the order of the scenes and specifics b/c I was in such a state of shock while watching (and I don’t get the benefit of rewatching it right away 10 times in a row, lol), but I’ll try to recollect as much as possible, as best I can. I’ll also share some of my opinions and theories at the very end.

Some brief, non-spoilery thoughts: This was definitely a set up episode for everything that is to come, so as much as I know everyone wants answers to certain questions, you’re just not going to get to them right away. The show doesn’t hesitate to pick up the threads left from each individual series though, so don’t expect it to be slow at all. They also did a lovely job making each Defenders’ scenes look and feel like their own shows, while still bringing them all together into a new kind of feel and style for The Defenders. I was impressed by that. Anyway, if you have any more general questions, feel free to send me an ask or note.

And now...I shouldn’t have to say this, but just in case...HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE DEFENDERS UNDER THE CUT! (Apologies for any mistakes, I wrote too much and just want to get it posted rather than spending even more time editing!)

Opening scene:

Very first scene opens in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. An unnamed man is being chased by a woman in black wielding double katanas and shrouded in darkness down some sort of sewer-like corridor, exchanging blows, and the man is clearly getting overwhelmed in the fight. Before she can land the killing stroke, Danny appears out of the darkness and jumps into the fight to draw the woman away. Danny is holding his own, but the woman is clearly a superior fighter, and lands a nice slice across Danny’s tattoo; in his shock, the woman gets the opening she needs and stabs the mystery man to death. Danny tries to chase down the woman, who is running away, and manages to land one Iron fist-packed punch on her, which sends her flying, but she disappears as quickly as she appeared. When Danny returns to the man, Colleen is with him, and we see that he’s clearly dying. After a bit of back and forth, the man tells them that their fight is not there, it’s in New York. Very mysterious, and Danny is extremely frustrated. This has apparently been one of their biggest leads in their search for the Hand, and just like that, he’s gone. Also, it’s pretty obvious this woman is Elektra, and the most impressive thing was how much her fighting skills had supernaturally improved. A small hint at the power of the Black Sky! (Note: there’s really no hint as to who this guy could be, and I originally assumed maybe he was affiliated with the Hand, like Bakuto’s faction or something? But the end credits mention Shaft, who was announced as a character on the show, and plays a big role in the Chaste, so that’s an interesting tie in!)

Opening credit sequence:

New song and graphic styles, I really can’t recall now, but think the instrumental had a kind of synth-y vibe. The backgrounds are basically outlined, lit up, 3-D maps of New York, but they form each of the different characters in their main color palette. It’s super cool. The names on the credits also utilize an effect on certain letters to make it look like a subway line design (i.e. Charlie Cox’s name has a C in a circle). It’s a cute touch and really drives the whole “New York is the fifth Defender!” thing home.

Okay, this is where the order of these scenes gets a little iffy in my head, not to mention we do switch between the characters pretty often this episode...I think I’m fairly clear on the details themselves though! I’ll basically try to summarize everyone’s scenes in one go and then summarize the closing act on its own!

Jessica Jones:

Jessica is (surprise, surprise!) passed out drunk in an empty bar and gets rudely awakened by the bartender, who helpfully informs her that it’s morning and she should probably get out of his bar. Next, we see Trish is running across the street to keep her car from getting towed, but the cop is an ass and refuses to unhook it. Suddenly, we see the car get pulled off by an inexplainable force! Turns out it’s Jessica, who snarkily asks the cop if he has a problem, and Trish has trouble holding back a smile. Now we see Trish and Jessica walking down the street with coffee cups and fighting over Jessica’s life state post-Kilgrave, one that involves a lot of drinking and zero working, which greatly concerns Trish. Trish lets Jessica know that she’s been getting a lot of interest in her story and wants Jessica to take some interviews, if only to make some extra money while she’s not working. Trish says something to the affect of, only you (Jessica) could take a personal triumph and turn it into despair, or something like that. Jessica tries to tell her not to worry. Trish takes a sip of her coffee and nearly spits it out -- turns out Jesica had handed her coffee to Trish and Trish finds out the coffee has whiskey. This got a pretty good laugh during the screening :). Jessica is then shown walking down the hallway to her apartment -- the window is boarded up and clearly hasn’t been fixed since JJ S1. There are two people standing outside the door as she approaches, a woman who seems well-dressed and pulled together, and her teenage daughter, who is snarky and disdainful toward Jessica. The mom heard about what Jessica did and wants her to take a case -- her husband has been missing for a week -- and Jessica flat out says no. As the woman presses her case, Jessica goes into mocking mode, and suggests that everyone thinks THEIR partner would never do anything like this, but usually they’re always cheating. The daughter lobs a few snarky comments at Jessica and the mom, and finally the two of them leave. Jessica seems to have a moment of remorse as she’s opening the door, turns around, and calls out to them. The woman turns around hopefully but Jessica only says that she hopes they can find him soon. The inside of Jessica’s apartment is still absolutely trashed from all of the Luke / Kilgrave stuff from S1 -- part of the scenes are shot through the hole in the wall, which is hilarious. She gets a phone call, and someone using a voice scrambler warns her not to take the case. Dun dun dun! We know what that means!!

Later on, you see Jessica sitting at her desk with her laptop open, using her expert Googling skills to learn more about missing mystery man. At this point, Malcolm strolls in, which pisses Jessica off -- she’s already told him to stop coming into her apartment, he says she gave him a key, she counters that he made himself his own copy of the key, he helpfully clarifies because he was helping her get her locks changed, banter banter banter. I want to know that Malcolm has beefed up a lot for this show. It was noticeable lol. He immediately notices she’s on her computer and absolutely lights up, asking whether she’s taken on a case? She insists she hasn’t taken it...yet, and he’s basically celebrating that she’s totally taken the case and runs over to hover over her shoulder while she’s researching, which pisses her off. They talk briefly about the guy who’s missing, and Jessica mentions that the only reason why she’s even doing this is because she got a call from someone using a voice scrambler who doesn’t want her to look into it, but surely they covered their tracks and won’t want to be found. At which point Malcolm posits the possibility that the guy is actually an amateur, and what if she could track the call back? So Jessica pulls a Jessica and calls the operator, pretending that she received a call from her grandfather who is missing from dementia and gets the number. They find the address the number is connected to, which Malcolm immediately recognizes as a super shady neighborhood that people generally used to get off the grid to use drugs, etc.

Jessica shows up at the building Malcolm helped her identify. Inside, it looks and sounds sketchy as hell -- flickering lights, sounds of people fighting and/or having sex, a real ball. She heads up the stairs to the specific apartment she seems to have identified as the exact location of the call. She bangs on the door, telling him (I assume she thinks it’s James -- the husband -- hiding out in there) that the landlord / someone already told her he’s inside. After getting no response, she does her patented doorknob breaking move (the scene we saw in the first trailer) and goes in. There’s a TV on, but the place is otherwise dim and abandoned. She slowly walks through, peeking into the bedroom and rounding back out to the living area. She spots some boxes, opens one up and inside is either weapons or explosives (I’m leaning toward the latter) -- the camera paused on it for a quick few seconds and I didn’t absorb the writing as thoroughly as I’d like, but it’s obviously something really bad.

Luke Cage:

We start out with the scene of him walking down the jail corridor, while the inmates cheer him on. It’s not super clear in the beginning, but we soon discover that Luke had his charges cleared, thanks to the excellent lawyering provided by one MR. FOGGY NELSON, who is clean shaven and sporting a very short haircut (gotta look the part at those big firms I guess!). Luke asks for Claire, but Foggy tells him only lawyers are allowed. Luke decides it’s time to hop on a bus and get back to New York ASAP. Before he leaves, Foggy gives him his business card and lets him know he can always reach out if he ever needs help starting over. Luke assures him he doesn’t need to start over, just need to move forward. Foggy helpfully lets him know that most people call him Foggy, to which Luke quips: “And you let them?” which earns a great laugh from the room :).

Now you see Luke on his bus ride back to NYC, and this scene is basically just the same scene in the first trailer with him looking out the window and seeing things like Pop’s barbershop as he drives by. He gets off the bus (which is plastered with a New Harlem Renaissance ad, so you can assume Mariah is still going at it) somewhere in Harlem and as the camera pans out, you see Ms. Claire Temple looking like her damn fine self, leaning against the wall, waiting for his return. They end up back at her apartment and immediately rock that cup of coffee, like wow, it was...physical hahaha. Think overturning furniture, going at it all over the place, I’ll admit to being slightly concerned for Claire b/c damn Luke is a strong guy, but she seemed like she was having a good time lol. In the trailer I thought they were leaning against a headboard - nope, it’s a table turned over on its side on the floor, haha. They have a nice chat afterwards, mostly focusing on what Luke might do now that he’s back in New York. He calls Claire out a little bit, saying that he knows she kept some things from him in the letters they exchanged while he was away. She confesses a lot of things happened and are still going on in the city, and she’s concerned about Luke trying to be a hero (cue the dialogue from trailer #1). At this point, there’s a knock on the door, and it’s...Misty! She’s bemused to see Luke at Claire’s place so quickly after being let out, and asks if he can take a walk down the street with her.

They exchange some small talk, apparently Misty has been made head of some sort of city-wide initiative, which is probably how they’ll take her out of Harlem and into some of the other neighborhoods in the Netflix Marvel world. They end up at a burnt out car that’s decorated with flowers, and Misty explains: there’s been a rash of somewhat unexplained deaths that bear striking similarities -- all young men from Harlem, who were recently employed at some sort of mystery job, moved their moms out of Harlem and into nice houses in what I presume is a more gentrified neighborhood of New York, but end up dead under mysterious circumstances. It could be drug running or it could be something more nefarious -- Misty doesn’t know. Luke wants to help, which Misty reacts to with skepticism (she makes a “Really? I’m going to send the guy who just got out of lockup?” kind of joke) but she mentions that this particular memorial is actually for the brother of Candace Miller, who died in LC S1. Apparently she had two brothers, so Misty tasks Luke to track down the last brother, who she last heard wasn’t exactly on the right side of the law, and talk some sense into him before the mother of that family loses her last child.

Luke heads over to the apartment building of the third brother, another interior with flashing lights, except this time with loud music. Luke encounters a group of guys in front of an apartment and asks them where he can find “insert brother’s name here b/c I honestly can’t remember it out” -- they’re about to snap at him for interrupting them and realize it’s Luke Cage, at which points their jaws snap shut and they direct him one floor up. Luke lets himself into the apartment, sees the brother, and walks up to an expensive looking speaker set up to turn down / off the music. The brother angrily exclaims, thinking that his friends are messing with his equipment and is surprised to see it’s Luke. Luke says he’s here to pay his respects, and the two have a conversation in which the brother pretty much stubbornly refuses to listen or provide any information on his brother who just died. Luke notices that for a kid between jobs, he seems to have some pretty nice things (the music / speaker system, spacious apartment, really nice shoe collection) and asks if he might have taken on the same job his brother had before he died. The boy is silent, Luke says something wise, and then leaves.

Matt Murdock:

His scene opens in his apartment, focused on some sort of Braille printer? Matt is practicing an argument for an upcoming case as the pages print off. Suddenly, he catches on the sound of someone getting mugged and you see him going into Daredevil mode and hearing the situation unfold -- Matt is visibly tensing and literally willing his body not to rush off. As he’s listening, he also hears the police approaching and containing the situation. He untenses his body and resumes practicing his speech. At this point, we switch immediately to the courtroom, where Matt is grilling a man on the stand. I couldn’t exactly follow what the incident was and what product the man’s company made, but whatever it was, it was responsible for injuring a young boy, putting him in a wheelchair. Matt is really in his element and manages to pin the executive on the stand into a corner and goes in for the kill. Then we are suddenly outside the courtroom, actually in the same courthouse we were in for the Castle trial, and the news media is there -- Matt won the case and the family of the boy who was injured were awarded $11 mil. The parents of the boy walk ahead to talk to the reporters, while the boy, sitting in the wheelchair, hangs back. Matt has a really lovely scene here when he steps back to talk to the boy, who is clearly having a hard time adjusting to his new circumstances, and gives him a Matt Murdock pep talk about handling adversity and very specifically, coming to terms with a life changing injury (wish I could share more of what he says, but I just can’t remember it and don’t want to butcher it!! It was good though). It does seem to get through to the kid, who then goes back to join his family during their little hallway press conference.

Matt turns around, and we see Karen, who was in the courtroom covering the case for the Bulletin. Karen congratulates Matt on winning the case and is complimentary toward him and what he did in the room. I think Matt also mentions Karen’s work as a journalist and she does her aw shucks Karen thing. She mentions that she needs a quote from him for the story she’s writing, and suggests that maybe they do it over a drink or a bite to eat, which Matt seems surprised at, but agrees to. (This suggests to me that they really haven’t spoken much, since the end of S2 reveal, though they’ve likely crossed paths politely since then.)

Matt and Karen are sitting in a diner, and while the atmosphere is a little awkward, it’s still friendly. They exchange some small talk about their jobs -- Karen asks Matt about his lawyering and I think this is where Matt reveals he’s doing pro bono work, although it’s possible he mentions it at the courthouse, and Karen talks about how she really feels like this is what she’s meant to do. She lowers her voice a bit and asks Matt whether he’s missed being Daredevil. He basically lies and says no. That he doesn’t regret it, but he doesn’t miss it either. Karen seems to be satisfied with that response. She has a whole line about how she really feels like they needed some time to figure themselves out and it sounds like she believes that both her and Matt are in better places now than they were before. She mentions she’s been covering the police beat and she really thinks the police are doing a good job handling the crime, at which Matt cracks a bit of a cynical smile, so maybe he actually did it...he was the hero this city needed and now they don’t need him anymore. But she thinks that right now the city needs more of Matt Murdock, and btw, she still needs that quote, and that’s just about how the scene ends. Very friendly.

EDIT!!! Didn’t realize a huge chunk of Matt’s section was missing from this recap. Damn it Tumblr, you’ve eaten parts of this post like 5 times already. This re-recap will be a bit of a rush job, sorry! Anyway, after the meeting with Karen, Matt goes to find Father Lanthom for confession. He says it’s been three days since his last confession, which suggests to me that he’s been going consistently, and often. He initially brings up the meeting with Karen, and talks about feeling bad about lying to her about not missing being Daredevil. In order to remain transparent, I will say he did use language to refer to Karen as someone he loves, but the impression didn’t come off as romantic, but more out of friendship / deeply caring for her. I really do believe he is sincere in wanting to become friends again. And nothing about the diner meeting or the conversation here feels like it’s moving toward anything more than trust building, which Matt already kind of fails at since he lies to her face there. Anyway, this part of the conversation didn’t last for very long since Lanthom takes the temperature on the situation and immediately gets to the heart of what’s bothering Matt, which I won’t bother recapping b/c you can see it in the scene below:

Danny Rand:

Since Danny was such a big part of the opening scene, he doesn’t get a traditional intro scene like the rest of the defenders in the first act of the episode, so after we’ve touched base with all of the Defenders, we bounce back into his story and find him flying back to New York on his jet with Colleen. It starts with him, alone in the bathroom, and this is where we get that dramatic scene of him wiping the mirror from the trailer. There’s little bit of editing trickery here, as he notices some weird blood splatters on the wall behind him, and he goes from the mirror to tearing off a piece of the wall? Or pushing aside some sort of curtain? And we segue seamlessly into Danny walking into some sort of eerie, abandoned hallway, all torn and tattered. We quickly notice the hallway floor is covered in bloody bodies, bodies of the dead K’un Lun monks. He passes through another doorway and there’s a whole group of them, standing in formation, covered in blood and staring down at him accusingly. He is clearly overwhelmed and confused, and turns around, only to see himself, dressed in robes and looking serious. He says something to real Danny (again, sorry about being spotty on the actually lines), which prompts real Danny to basically breakdown screaming. At this point we hear Colleen in the background, shaking him awake from what’s obviously a nightmare. She tries to get him to talk about the screaming, which he tries to shrug off as turbulence terrors, but she’s not buying it. They talk about the man they hunted down in Cambodia and it’s clear that he’s feeling guilty about his death, and is still feeling guilty about the not being at K’un Lun to protect his city. Colleen insists that it’s not his fault, but Danny remains unconvinced. Danny and Colleen return to the city and are taking a helicopter ride over the city. They’re holding hands. She’s marveling at the view and they’re discussing home -- New York is basically Colleen’s home but for Danny, even though he grew up here, he still doesn’t know if this is his home.

Alexandra:

Our introduction to Sigourney’s antagonist Alexandra lacks any bombast or fanfare, but you definitely feel...unsettled in a lot of her scenes. We first see her in some sort of nondescript building, and she’s waiting for an appointment, looking classy af. A person comes up and leads her to a really bare, empty room, and asks Alexandra to change into a patient’s gown. The nurse brings her out of the room and to a larger room with a CAT scan machine. The doctor greets her warmly but has bad news for her, which she seems to be expecting -- her red? white? blood cell count is precipitously low and her body’s organs are starting to shut down. She asks what the doctor is going to do about it, and he says there isn’t anything they can really do, which is an answer that clearly doesn’t satisfy her (“That’s not what I asked.”). When she asks how long she has, he guesstimates around a few months.

Edit: Embedded the released preview clip that corresponds with the below scene :)

We see Alexandra again in what I assume is Central Park (sorry guys, I don’t know NY!), sitting on a bench and feeding the pigeons. Again, she looks amazing. Madame Gao (woohoo!) comes into frame and says she thought she’d find her here, it’s always been her favorite spot. Alexandra muses about how surprised she is this place hasn’t already been razed to the ground and replaced with high rise buildings, she remembers when it used to be forest. She starts into a mini history lesson about New York City and how the Dutch bought it for 24 dollars -- then she drops a burn -- it was 24 dollars too much. She delivers it with such classy disdain, I love it. There’s also a hint of “Hey I was here when this happened” which tracks nicely with the hints Gao has given about her longevity / immortality...clearly Alexandra has quite a history herself. Anyway, they move onto discussion of more important things, like nefarious evil plans? Madame Gao updates Alexandra about some part of this plan and says in a few months they should be ready to make their move. Alexandra quickly shuts this down, which seems to take Madame Gao by surprise. Instead, Alexandra wants to make her move now, which Gao tries to talk her out of -- she doesn’t think it’s a good idea, they still need more time, etc etc -- but knowing what we know about Alexandra’s updated life expectancy, she obviously can’t afford to wait to make her move. At the very end of this scene, Alexandra quite flippantly tosses her bag of bird seed at Gao and orders her to finish feeding the birds. So there’s a really obvious and interesting power dynamic here...whoever Alexandra is, she’s quite used to calling the shots!

The last scene we have with Alexandra takes place after all of the scenes from the other characters, and on some sort of fancy rooftop -- it’s the one from the trailer, and I think it might be the same one Gao met with Fisk in S1? I’m not 100%. Gao lets her know that things have begun, which seems to please Alexandra greatly. And at this point, we start to see what exactly that plan is.

Closing scene:

It starts out with a rumble, almost like mild earthquake tremors. Matt is back at home after his confession with Lanthom, and his apartment is bathed in red. When the shaking starts, he freezes almost seems like he’s not sure what to do. The shaking intensifies, dust and debris flying off, and he seems actually scared at this point, kind of crouching over and covering his head. Jessica, in the mystery apartment she’s tracked down, is also looking around in a mixture of confusion, fear, and WTF as everything shakes around her. In the streets, you see huge tremors and rows of cars being propelled upwards with some sort of strange force before slamming back into the ground. At the memorial for Candace’s mother, you see her standing outside of the car and looking around in shock as the city shakes around her. A streetlamp breaks and starts to fall, but Luke appears and immediately bears the weight of the falling lamp and pushes it back up and away from her. Danny and Colleen have just gotten off the helicopter, unaware of what’s going on on the ground, but in just a few moments as they walk off the landing pad, the ground cracks beneath them and between them.

As everything crumbles outside, Alexandra calmly turns from the edge of the rooftop and walks over to Elektra in the black cloak, and says that iconic line, “It’s just a city. You’ll get used to watching them fall.”

And basically while the city is falling apart and all of our heroes are like WTF, the episode ends. I know, we were really disappointed lol.

Interesting things of note:

There’s a little scene transition device they employed, at least for the first episode, as you go into a scene for a specific character -- it was sort of a quick-cut style with visual snippets and ambient sounds and slightly colorized for each Defender. I haven’t watched Jessica Jones since it first aired, but it reminded me of that show. Not too surprising because the director for the first 2 episodes of Defenders is the same director who did JJ!

I wrote the heading for this section 2 days ago so while I may have had interesting thoughts then, I certainly don’t now, sorry lol!

[chinesemyths-brandstory]

Tao pigeons from the Taobao clothing family: As long as you believe enough, you can also have an "open hanging" life!

//

wrinten by Zhou Junjun

edited by Xiang Hongjin

pic Zhu Ge

文 周君君

编辑 向虹锦

图 朱鸽

//

In this era, women are demanding:

Women should be able to wear high heels and wear exquisite makeup in the workplace;

In addition, we must be able to have a scented soul in our daily lives, and understand everything about others with good wishes;

After returning home, you should be able to give birth, bring baby, train baby, cook, wash clothes and wait for the elderly;

When everything is not satisfactory, everyone will magnify this infinitely to talk about the defects of women, and ignore all the advantages of women ...

then--

 这个时代，对女性要求很高：

女人要能够穿着高跟鞋，化着精致的妆容在职场上风姿飒爽；

又要在日常生活中能够拥有带有香味的灵魂，用美好的愿望去理解别人的一切；

回家后还要能够生娃带娃培养娃，做饭扫地洗衣服伺候老人；

但凡一样做的不尽人意，大家就会把这一样无限放大化去谈论女人的缺陷，而忽视女性的一切优点……

然后——

 In this era, every woman should look at her story

The story of Zhu Ge

在这个时代，每个女人都该看看她的故事

朱鸽的故事

——Zhu Ge said:

I think in this world, expecting others to give is to ask for charity. Without the ability to earn wealth, it is impossible to control wealth, and even less able to control destiny.

Women who start a business must have stronger psychological qualities, broader insights, and greater resilience in the face of difficult pressures.

Entrepreneurship gives women freedom, so that you can wear high heels, exquisite makeup and shine in your career, and become a proud mother in the heart of children. For men, as Ma Yiyi said, I can get used to you, and I also Can change you.

 ——朱鸽说：

我认为在这个世界上，期盼别人给予，那是求施舍，如果��有赚取财富的能力，也不可能有掌控财富的能力，更不可能有掌控命运的能力。

创业的女人，定有更强的心理素质，更广博的见识，面对压力困难时更强的韧性。

创业给女性自由，让你既可以穿着高跟鞋，化着精致的妆容在事业上绽放光彩，在孩子心中成为值得骄傲的妈妈，而对于男人，正如马伊琍所说的，我可以惯着你，我也可以换了你。

 Tao pigeons from the Taobao clothing family: As long as you believe enough, you can also have an "open hanging" life!

Her legend has become a model for local children, and she still wears a suit that costs only 8 yuan ...

Her name is Zhu Ge.

淘宝衣族朱鸽：只要你足够相信，你也可以拥有“开挂”人生！

她的传奇故事成为当地教育孩子的范例，而今她仍穿着售价仅8块的套装……

她叫朱鸽。

 01

Poverty is really not terrible. Zhu Ge believes that as long as the family is together, no matter how hard it is, there is still hope.

A sensible woman, she often went out to pick up scraps to supplement her household when she was eight or nine years old. When she hit the river embankment in the village, she would carry a box of instant noodles filled with cigarettes, and called for sales near the working crowd.

His father encountered gangsters while working, and sustained severe injuries to his head. He had an incomprehensible obsession with the feudal idea of "dominating boys and daughters". Seeing his wife gave birth to four daughters in succession, and the burden of life, he became "paranoid", "depressed", "irritable", "doubtful" .

When a father faces his mother every day, he only has a disgusted look and words, and a disagreement means scolding; a mother who has always been receptive also dares to sit quietly at the door and wipe tears every day when the children fall asleep. The mother at the time was unaware of her husband's abnormalities.

 贫穷真的不可怕，朱鸽认为只要一家人在一起，再苦依然心存希望。

懂事的她八九岁就经常出去捡废品贴补家用，村里打河堤时，她都会端着一个方便面纸箱里面装着香烟，在干活的人群附近叫卖。

父亲打工途中遭遇匪徒，头部受到重创。对“重男轻女”封建思想有着让人无法理解的执念他，见妻子接连生下四个女儿，加之生活的重担，他变得“偏执”，“抑郁”，“暴躁”，“多疑”。

父亲每天面对母亲时，只有厌弃的眼神和言语，一言不合就是打骂；向来逆来顺受的母亲也只敢每天在孩子们都睡着了悄悄坐在门口抹眼泪。当时的母亲并没有意识到，也没有能力意识到丈夫的异常。

 That year, the twenty-fourth lunar month, the weather was surprisingly good, and the sun was shining, so that people in the winter had some warmth. No one would have thought that, just on this day, a tragedy like that would happen in the village.

Zhu Ge's father suddenly became ill and hacked his mother at home with a sharpened knife. When the mother died, the unborn baby was five months old. The father who attempted suicide in the village was arrested for homicide. Because of such an almost unbelievable "human disaster", the younger Zhu Ge sister was "forced" to become an orphan.

Zhu Ge, who was the eldest sister that year, was only thirteen years old. The sudden advent of this "catastrophe" is unbearable to any family, and it is almost "fallen down" for the young Zhu Ge.

I remember Zhu Ge stumbled to the door and looked up that day. The sky was actually black. Zhu Ge wondered: "Big day, all the sky is black?" The three-year-old sister said by pulling her robe "Sister, it's not dark, the sun is so big, it's piercing."

 那一年，腊月二十四，天气出奇的好，太阳高照，让寒冬中的人们身上有了一些暖意。没有人会想到，就在这一天，村里会发生那样近乎让人“匪夷所思”的悲剧。

朱鸽的父亲忽然发病拿着刚磨好的刀，将母亲砍死在家中。母亲去世时，腹中的胎儿已经五个月。在村头自杀未遂的父亲因杀人罪被捕。就因为这样一件近乎匪夷所思的“人祸”，让年少的朱鸽姐妹“被迫”成了孤儿。

那一年作为大姐的朱鸽仅仅才十三岁。这样“灾祸”的突然降临，无论对哪个家庭都是不可承受之重，对少年的朱鸽而言几乎“天都要塌下来”。

记得那一天朱鸽蹒跚走到门口抬头望去，天居然是黑压压一片，朱鸽疑惑道：“大白天的，咋天都是黑的？”三岁的小妹妹拉着她的衣角说：“姐，天不黑呀，太阳好大，刺眼睛。”

At that moment, Zhu Ge knew that only the sky she saw was black.

Looking at her sleeping sister, she squatted beside the door, shaking with tears, and her tears flowed silently. The four sisters rolled over the quilt and Zhu Ge quickly got up to cover her, and suddenly found herself standing Can't get up and fall to the ground. She suddenly gave herself two slaps to keep her awake. Say to myself, I can't fall, what should I do if my sisters fall? I ’m useless even crying here. I always have to face it. I should think about what we should do next?

She "huo" stood up and covered the quilts for her sisters. At the door, looking at the lonely moon in the sky, Zhu Ge wiped her tears with her sleeve. From today, she must give up reading. She should think of ways to do something to make money. The younger sisters are only 7 years old and young. Only three years old, if she doesn't make money, they may not be able to read books. Thanks to Zhou Ji, a relative and neighbor, to be able to eat and eat.

那一刻，朱鸽才知道，原来只有她眼里看到的天，是黑的。

看着熟睡的妹妹，她蹲坐在门旁瑟瑟发抖，眼泪无声无息的流着，四妹翻了个身被子掉下来，朱鸽连忙起身要去把被子给她盖上，忽然发现自己站不起来，跌坐在地上。她忽然给自己扇了两个巴掌，让自己清醒。对自己说，我不能倒下，我倒下了妹妹们怎么办？我就算在这里哭死也没有用，该面对的始终要面对，我该想想接下来我们该怎么办？

她“霍”地站起来将棉被给妹妹们盖好。走到门口，望着天上那轮孤月，朱鸽用衣袖擦干眼泪，从今天起，她必须放弃读书，她该去想办法做些事情赚钱，��妹们大的才7岁，小的才三岁，如果她不赚钱，她们都有可能读不起书。靠着亲人邻居周济过活，能够吃的上饭已要感恩。

 No one will know how long it used to be. She could n’t see the true color of the sky every day when she went out. The sky she saw every day was black ...

没有人会知道，曾经有多么漫长的一段日子，她每天出门都看不见天空的真正颜色，每天看到的天空都是黑的……

 02

In life, many times we have to be grateful for suffering and unfairness. It will make us know ourselves more clearly, what we have, what we can do, and how we should do it. Even with a little chance, we will go all out to use our lives to the extreme, because at that time, we have no choice.

The 100-meter race, how to run, try your best, run with your life, of course, the results are different.

人生，很多时候我们要感恩苦难，感恩不公，它会让我们更加清晰地认识自己，认识到我们拥有什么，我们能做什么，我们该如何去做。哪怕碰到一丁点儿机会，我们就会全力以赴用生命去做到极致，因为在那个时候，我们别无选择。

百米赛跑，怎么跑，尽力跑，用生命去跑，结果当然是不一样的。

 She started towing heavy trailers, and every family promoted beer, earning a dollar for each item. Only she gets up at five o'clock every morning to go out to sell. Every night at eleven o'clock, she can hardly see the road. She can only rely on the weak light of a flashlight tied to her head to illuminate the road ahead. For every dollar she earns, she cherishes it in an iron biscuit box. She tells herself that filling this box can save a year's tuition for her big sister.

However, these are still not enough to feed the sisters. She gave her grandpa and grandma all the money from the beer sale, and took 200 yuan to Zhengzhou alone. She works at the Zhengzhou clothing market during the day, and goes to the street to set up a stall at night. This girl who was so thin and almost "weak and windless" worked so hard that she couldn't bear to eat enough and gave herself two gimmicks every day. She always thought that if she was full, her sisters might not be enough It ’s time for my sisters to grow up.

她开始拖着沉重的拖车，家家户户推销啤酒，每件就赚一块钱。只有她每天早上五点就起床出门推销，每天晚上十一点几乎看不清路，只能靠头上绑着的一个电筒微弱的���照亮前方的路。她每赚一块钱都会珍惜的放在铁的饼干盒里，她告诉自己，装满这一盒就可以为大妹存一年��学费了。

然而这些依然是不足够养活妹妹们的。她把卖啤酒赚的钱都交给爷爷奶奶，带着两百块只身去郑州。她白天就是郑州服装市场打工，晚上就去街上摆地摊。这个单瘦到几乎“弱不经风”的女孩，努力到无能为力，自己连饭都不舍得吃饱，每天就给自己两个馒头，她总想着如果自己吃饱了，妹妹们可能就不够了，妹妹们也是长身体的时候。

 When a person does not have oneself in their eyes, you will use a very good wish to understand all the "encounters" that fate has arranged for you.

Then you will have the purest smile; you will have the clearest eyes; you will have the mind to accommodate everything; you will have the most sincere gratitude, thank you for everything you meet ...

当一个人眼里没有自己的时候，你会用非常良好的愿望去理解命运给你安排的一切“遇见”。

然后你会有着最纯粹的笑容；你会有着最清澈的眼神；你会有着容纳万物的胸襟；你会有着最真挚的感恩，感恩一切的遇见……

 03

When setting up the stall, Zhu Ge will always carefully observe the clothing and fabric of the passers-by. She patiently selects each customer carefully until the customer selects the most satisfactory one. She will hold a notebook to silently record the price and inertia of each customer's purchase.

Old customers patronize her will give away a dress, so that each customer can return with joy. She chooses some styles based on these every day. She is not afraid of hardships or tiredness. She will always carry the most goods and the most styles.

Under her careful management, her stall has become the hottest stall in the street. Customers often introduce friends, and even other street people come here. Zhu Ge, a thin girl, became The well-known "Queen of Stalls".

摆地摊时，朱鸽总会仔细观察往来行人们的衣装，布料。她耐心为每一位顾客用心的挑选，直至顾客挑选到自己最满意的。她会拿着一个本子默默记下每一个客户购买的价位和选择惯性。

老顾客光顾她都会赠送一件衣服，让每个客户都能欢欢喜喜满载而归。她每天都会根据这些去优选一些款式。她不怕苦，也不怕累，她永远都是搬的货最多的，也是款式最多的。

在她的用心经营下，她的小摊成了街上生意最火爆的小摊，经常有顾客介绍朋友过来，甚至还有其他街上的人慕名而来，朱鸽这个单瘦的女孩成了远近闻名的“地摊女王”。

 Zhu Ge is known as the "Queen of the Stalls" for two reasons. First, her clothing stall is the most popular stall in business. Secondly, she is also the most popular in the whole street and is very popular with everyone. Even many stall owners in the next stall saw that she often rushed out of the stall and forgot to eat, and brought her a bun and the like.

Being able to treat "competitors" as such "mutual help" friends is indeed invaluable in "ground stalls". When I asked his neighbor, I know that Zhu Ge will always be the first one on this street, and sometimes he will also help the neighbor to look after the children, hang goods, and set up a display stand. When people are not long, I often exchange ideas about how to sell clothes better. The good sales will also bring goods to the stalls next door, and the price for them is lower than the price they purchase.

Gradually, everyone found that Zhu Ge brought their goods regardless of style, material, and cost performance are very popular with customers. In this way, she changed from a small stall owner to a "supplier" for the entire street stall owner. There are even many other street stalls who came to her for purchase. "Floor stalls" began to be popular: go, let's go to Zhu Ge's "Taobao" together.

朱鸽被称为“地摊女王”有两个原因：第一，她的服装小摊是生意最火爆的小摊。第二，她也是整条街上人缘最好的，很受大家喜爱。甚至很多隔壁摊的摊主看见她经常赶出摊忘了吃饭还会给她带个馒头大饼之类。

能够把“竞争对手”处成这样“互帮互助”的朋友，在“地摊圈”确实是难能可贵。问其邻摊才知道，在这条街上朱鸽永远是第一个出摊的，有时还会帮邻摊照看小孩，挂货，搭展架。人客不多时还经常会跟大家交流怎样把衣服卖的更好的一些想法。卖的好的爆款还会给隔壁摊带带货，给他们的价格比他们进货的价格还低。

逐渐，大家发现朱鸽给他们带的货无论款式，材质，性价比都是非常受客户的青睐。就这样，她从一个小摊摊主，成了整条街摊主们的“供货商”。甚至还有很多其他街的摊主也莫名而来找她进货。“地摊圈”开始流行一句话：走，咱一起去朱鸽那里“淘宝”去。

 With more and more people looking for her to pick up goods, she made it easier for customers to find her. She rented a small shop at Qiao's door, and that was her first shop. She named it "Taobaoyi". Zhu Ge's small shop, because of cheap prices, excellent quality, a variety of styles. In addition to "ground stalls", it has also attracted many clothing chains, stores, and e-commerce shopkeepers rushing to come to buy goods.

When not busy, the new owner Zhu Ge will share some business methods and experiences with her without reservation, so Zhu Ge ’s small shop is always crowded from the moment the door is opened.

随着找她拿货的人越来越多，她为了让客户更方便找到她。她在乔家门租了个小小的店面，那就是她开的第一家店，她取名“淘宝衣族”。朱鸽的小店，因价格便宜，品质过硬，款式繁多。除了“地摊圈”，还吸引了众多服装连锁，卖场，电商掌柜争相过来进货。

不忙时，新店主朱鸽还会毫不保留的跟她分享一些经营的方法和心得，因此朱鸽的小店总是从开门起就人客络绎不绝，热闹非常……

 04

Every time I gave money to my sisters, Zhu Ge was heartily relieved to see her sisters grow up and be of good quality.

Four sister Lili, once a 3-year-old child, has now become a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl. Every time my sister caressed the calluses and old scars on her sister's hand, she looked at her and said, "Sister, be bitter."

Zhu Ge always smiled and stroked her sister's head and said, "No pain, no pain at all, my sister is doing well, you should study hard."

每次拿着钱给妹妹们的时候，看着妹妹们逐渐长大，品学兼优，朱鸽由衷的欣慰。

四妹莉莉，曾经3岁的孩童，而今已经出落成十六岁的美丽少女。妹妹每次都会懂事地抚摸着姐姐手上的老茧和旧伤疤望着姐姐说：“姐姐，很苦吧。”

朱鸽总会笑着抚摸着妹妹的头说：“不苦，一点儿也不苦，姐过的挺好的，你们要好好读书。”

 Today's "Taobao clothing group" has developed into more than 20 branches, more than 20 large warehouses, more than a hundred stores, more than a dozen associate factories, and has become one of the well-known clothing supply chains in China. Under the baptism of the Internet and mobile Internet, e-commerce and social e-commerce, Zhu Ge can make a "traditional" business an industry leader and steadily develop. It is a myth in the eyes of colleagues ...

今天的“淘宝衣族”已经发展成有二十多家分公司，二十多个大型仓库，超过上百家门店，十几个联营厂的规模，成为中国行内著名的服装供应链之一。在互联网和移动互联网，电商和社交电商的对市场的洗礼下，朱鸽能够把一项“传统”生意做成行业翘楚，还能稳步发展，在同行眼里已是神话……

 Today, Zhu Ge's younger sisters have set up their own businesses, bought a house and a car, had children, and lived a happy life.

Today, Zhu Ge, still wearing a suit of 8 pieces, still has a bright smile. She often goes to some poor villages to donate money and supplies to the children, tell them their stories, and tell them: "I have If you can succeed, you can too! "

今天，朱鸽的妹妹们都已经成家立业，买房买车，生儿育女，过着幸福的生活。

今天的朱鸽，仍然穿着8块一件的套装，依然带着爽朗的笑容，她时常到一些贫困村去给孩子们捐钱捐物，去跟她们讲自己的故事，告诉她们：“我都可以做成功，你们也一定可以！”

  ——Zhu Ge said:

In the flashy and tumultuous times, people are prone to miss their long-awaited opportunities in haste and impetuousness.

Many people have asked me why the Taobaoyi tribe can live so solidly and grow so brilliantly. Looking back silently for so many years on the road, I feel very lucky, I have always understood the truth, even if it is a small thing, no matter how small a business, as long as I can treat it with gratitude and manage it with heart It goes all out to make it, and it will make me someday.

Others ask me why I want to start a business. I think in this world, I expect others to give, that is to give alms. Without the ability to earn wealth, it is impossible to have the ability to control wealth, and even less able to control destiny. Entrepreneurial women must have stronger psychological qualities, broader insights, and greater resilience in the face of stress, in order to understand how to live, how to live beautifully, how to live wonderfully, how to live their best Bright life ...

——朱鸽说：

浮华喧嚣的时代，人们容易在匆忙和浮躁中错失自己寻找等待已久的机会。

很多人问我‘淘宝衣族’为什么可以活的这样踏实，成长的这么灿烂。默然回首看着在路上的这么多年，我感到我很幸运，我从来就明白一个道理，即使是一件再小的事情，再小的生意，只要我能够感恩的去对待它，用心的去经营它，全力以赴去成就它，它终有一天也会成就我。

别人问我为什么要创业，我认为��这个世界上，期盼别人给予，那是求施舍，如果没有赚取财富的能力，也不可能有掌控财富的能力，更不可能有掌控命运的能力。创业的女人，定有更强的心理素质，更广博的见识，面对压力困难时更强的韧性，才能明白自己要怎么活，怎么才能活的美丽，怎么活的精彩，怎么活出自己最璀璨的人生……

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Every game on my wishlist, part 1

Let’s do this, I’ll share all games on all of my wishlists and write a short reasoning for every single one of them. My goal is to find out, whether I really want to own and play all of these games and how many I will be able to remove from them without much of a regret. There probably are more productive ways to spend free time, but let’s do this.

Itch.io

The list on itch.io is the messiest one of the three. I keep adding and removing and returning games a lot. Right now it features 6 times, 2 games I would like to write about here and 23 games I intended to buy and play at some point. I know I will only have time to play 3-4 or four big games in next 2 years and this list consist mostly of smaller and experimental projects. So, many of them have a good chance of getting played. Let's take a look at individual items now.

1. and 2. Far Future Tourism and Zones

I really want to play some of Sherlock Connor's walking sims. The world's he created are different, a personal expression through the medium of video games. It's not necessary to have two packs on the wishlist and I'll remove one for now.

3. Walden, a game

I guess I might read Thoreau's book first? He's a personality, who intrigues me a lot and a game based on his life could be an interesting time. Also, the game's nature looks stunning. It makes me want to go outside and I don't think I ought to play this instead. To keep my life simple, the game leaves the list.

4. Sagebrush

I'm excited about this one. It's a walking sim with little more direction, a disturbing theme and stunning lo-fi graphics. My cup of tea and an item of high priority on the list.

5. The Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game

It just feel like a kind game, which can help you out, when you feel down. Together with Sagebrush, these are the two games I need to play asap.

6., 7. and 8. Sokpop Games

A small selection of Sokpop titles (kamer, moreas, huts). They're cheap, original and bite sized. The three selected titles focus more on ambiance than activity/action and that's why I'm interested in them. I don't see any reason in favour of removing them.

9. Voyageur

This game's very likely an underrated gem. It has trading and an interesting narrative but it's also way more stressful than survival space games. Just check out the trailer, this game stays.

10. EarthTongue

You care about an alien ecosystem mostly composed of fungi. That and a recommendation from Natalie Lawhead Is enough for the game to be kept on the list.

11. Of Gods and Men: Daybreak Empire

I want to keep track of this game, but there are so many other tactics games I'd rather play and I own many of them already. This has to go.

12. Dujanah

They say the story is incredible and the art direction reminds me of Catemites, but I'm tired of narrative games rn. Dujanah, you're off the list.

13. Seek Etyliv

This is the most minimalist grid based game I know. Everything about it intrigues me and that's why I need to play it.

14. Overland

I love polished low poly micro worlds of this tactics game. Also, it's a road trip. They say it's not as good as Into the Breach and I agree that they should have released it earlier. But I still want to play it. 15. Sunset

An ambient game about revolution and class, but I'm not all that interested in it and I probably wouldn't be able to run it on my potato of a machine. 16. Art Sqool

It rhymes with cool! Also, I think that it brings something new in video games, that this game indeed is art. I definitely need to play this soon.

17. The Stillness of the Wind

I appreciate a lot what is this game trying to accomplish with minimalist storytelling devices, but I can't get over the color palette.

18. Glass Staircase

I enjoy Puppet Combo. I admire their low poly approach to horror games. They def participated on the renaissance of the genre and ps one era graphics. This is probably their most polished game, but It would be possible to replace it with something else from their catalogue.

19. and 20.  Far Blade and Backlands

The two Bcubedlabs' games have stunning graphics, simple mechanics and almost no stories. Their visual value and low price tag are the two reasons both games are staying.

21. The Space Between

A year ago, even six months ago, I would have been thrilled about it. But that was before I lost interest in stories of any kind. Now I only want an impression or an emotion. I don't want to follow a story to feel sad. I feel sad right now. This might return on my list in 2021, when I change mind again.

22. Caves of Qud

This a complicated hardcore retro hardcore everything ultima inspired features and death heavy rpg I'd love to try out one day. But it will take a long time for me to get there. Also, I don't think it fits with the rest of the list.

23. Pagan: Autogeny

I added this few days ago and I'm interested in it because the gamepage promises a bag of candy. In this game you roam around an abandoned mmo and occasionally come across content. I especially like the promise of 100 acres. It clearly invites the photographer in me in. This might be the right game to make paintings of too.

Humble Bundle

My second wishlist is neatly organized. It contains 16 items in a 4x4 grid. Each row is supposed to have a theme and every purchase breaks it a little. I removed some 30 items from this wishlist in May, so there aren't any items I think should be removed. But talking about every one of them might change that. 1. Gris

I used to be a Devolver fanboy and I still like their making off documentaries, but the majority of their releases are too violent and too much of a crowd pleaser. I still enjoy a game of theirs from time to time and I received a super strong recommendation to play Gris, which isn't violent. It's melancholic. And I think I might add to the discourse, which has been uncritical so far.

2. Timespinner

I like myself a good metroidvania and despite the average reviews, Timespinner has that Mega Drive aesthetic I can't resist.

3. Chasm

They say it's only decent, but let's consider two other factors. Comfort food is 7 out of 10 and so are Comfort Games. Metroidvanias became that for me as a genre and Chasm looks like a delightful diversion from all these superb titles coming out.

4. Feudal Alloy

Another decent non-linear platformer with rpg elements on my list. This one earned its spot with the unique combination of theme and graphic style. It's just lovely looking.

5. and 6. Banner Sagas

I like tactics games and for some reason the story of Banner Saga still appeals to me. I want to play through it and see how much I will have to sacrifice and to which end. 

7. Expedition: Vikings

Expedition: Conquistador is one of the most underrated tactics games. It's because fights themselves are little less involved that the rest of game. You play with a flawed crew, which forces you into bad decisions all the time. I heard great thing about it in an episode of 3MA dedicated to Vikings.

8. Bad North: Jotunn Edition

Bad North is purty and it looks like delightful, smart little game made with minimalism on mind.

9. Titan Souls

To be totally honest, this one's on the list for graphics. They're great and I really appreciate selection of browns and greys, which are dominant, but without an effect of the game looking lifeless.

10. Samurai Gunn

I talked about this game many times. It looks pretty, it sounds amazing with the soundtrack from Doseone. The trailer is my favourite video game trailer of all times and the gameplay looks like fun if you have couch and friends, who enjoy games.

11. Nantucket

It's all about the theme of whale fishing and the swag this gem has. Mechanically it seems to be quite a journey too. I enjoyed FTL and this is building upon some of its mechanics, but makes it less about surviving and more about chaining successful hunts, methinks.

12. Dishonored

The last game from the row of giants and whales is the single first person modern AAA title I crave to play. Architecture and world-building in the series are exceptional and the whole design reminds me of Half-Life, the best shooter of all times.

13. Ultraworld

A weirdly available commercial piece from the creators of Secret Habitat, one of my favourite walking sims and my favourite digital gallery. Obviously, this can't be removed.

14. Koma

I wasn't interested in this atmospheric roaming game at first but the more I heard and saw, the more hooked I got. I don't care about the mystery being second tier. The atmosphere is dripping from screenshot and that's enough (btw can't run it, so it's of lower priority).

15. Californium

I like that it's a French game about America inspired by an American. I remember people talking about it quite fondly, when it was released. Californium is weird and colorful and filled with things to take a picture of.

16. Crying Suns

An upcoming game published by Humble Bundle. The hook is that it takes FTL and battles from games such a Homeworld and stories such as Dune and meshes it all together. If it turns out to be any good, this might be my next time submarine.

Steam

The third and last list has 22 items and more than a half of them are metroid inspired designs. Both released and upcoming.  I curated this list a lot in the past as some of my friends can see it and I felt little embarrassed, when it was reaching over 100 items. Truth to be said, I bought most of these items meanwhile. Now let's see what I can do about the rest.By the end of 2019 I would love this list to consist only from Symphony of the Night clones.

1. Knights and Bikes

I bragged about this one a lot recently. Just scroll down for more. It's number one, because it's the next game I'm buying (unless sales).

2. Legendary Gary

I really hope I will find funds and time and play what could be the Bojack Horseman of nerds. The trailer for this game deeply resonated with the situation I've been for several last years and I think the game can have a deep impact on me if the writings as good as its soundtrack.

3. Anodyne 2: Return to Dust

Ok, one more time. Anodyne was unique and the sequel looks great in its low poly glory and promises to be bigger and better.

4. The Eternal Castle

The trailer for this one's stylish. I watched it at least five times in a row. But it doesn't tell a whole lot about the game and It's possible that the intro is the best part of the game. It probably will leave my list. 5. INFRA

Infra is s a puzzle game made in source (half-life engine, the best engine). Basically it all starts as a surveillance of pipes and ends up with you uncovering a conspiracy. What attracts me to it are beautiful environments and some well remembered textures and it should perform great on my rustworthy laptop. Also, I read great things about it on RPS before it became a completely different site.

6-22. Non-linear platformers

I won't be buying or playing any of these this or the next year. But 2022 should be a year for them to thrive. I will feature here some of them in a foreseeable future as some of them are pretty interesting and maybe make a comprehensive piece on castleoids for Christmas. The list goes: Axiom Verge, Timespinner, Chasm, Feudal Alloy, Visual Out, Redo!, Gato Roboto, Grizzland, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, Eagle Island, Minoria, Witch and 66 Mushrooms, Refoil, Nykra, Outbuddies, Biomass, Divinium

And that used to be my wishlist. I don’t know why I had such a sudden urge to make an article about it, but here it is and now I can delete some of these items without regret and always look back here if I need to find them.

[bagofgroceries]

Thoughts on ME: Andromeda

So I finally completed Andromeda with near 100% completion, and I would like to share my thoughts on it. Spoilers and wordy thoughts under the cut!

I want to preface this with saying that I am a big fan of the riginal Trilogy, and I was very excited for Andromeda. After the first trailer was released with the Johnny Cash song was released I blocked all news, trying not to color my impressions of it even more. I pre-ordered the Special Edition of the game but I didn’t play for several weeks because I was replaying the trilogy first.

As well as you know, adulting. Lame.

Spoilers for the originial trilogy as well.

The Plot

Considering when Andromeda takes place in the ME timeline(during ME:2 before the Shadowbroker DLC ish) they didn’t have many choices plot wise. Unless they wanted to write a Prequel a la Borderlands, and it was hard to live up to the Urgency and Seriousness that the plots of ME:2 and ME:3 had.

Settling a new galaxy is a simple plot that lacks the convulutedness that people complained about with The Reapers, Leviathan and heck even the stupid council.

The Pathfinder

When I found out that ‘Pathfinder’ was a title and role that was basically made up by Alec Ryder I was disapointed. The characters you meet and who you hear talking place a great deal of responsibility on the Pathfinders early on, they seem to have such high expectations for people who haven’t really had a chance to earn it.

The role itself? Okay sure, gotta have one person in charge of exploring and charting who has a varied skillset. I would have liked to have heard more about the other Pathfinder’s qualifications. We know Ryder was an N7, we know Sarissa is a War Hero and the best thing since sliced bread according to Cora, but what about Reeka? Avictus?

Also, who exactly do the Pathfinders report to? Ideally did they report to Garson, and did all the Pathfinders report to her, were they not answerable to their own people? What are the Pathfinders going to do once this new society gets going?

Also a bit curious about how they felt about Sam, considering the history of AI in the Milky Way.

Which leads us to…

Sam

Repetitive messages aside (yes, I know it’s fucking cold on the ice planet away from the heaters, thank you.) I really liked Sam. I thought he was useful, a good addition to gameplay, the voice acting was excellent and his character arc–though not complete–was well written.

Did I like him better when he was EDI?  Yes.

Would I have been sad if EDI had died, more so than if Sam died? Yes.

Do I think that they were trying to rip off of EDI’s popularity, like Star Trek was doing with T’Pol and Seven of Nine? Yes.

I am really hoping that if there is another ME game he evolves differently than EDI did. I would have liked to see more push back against his existence with how upset everyone was about EDI becoming unshackled, and the assurances they needed upon meeting her pre-unshackling. Give me the video where a Quarian Pathfinder was convinced to take a SAM implant. Please.

The Kett

Look. There is no way around the Kett being lazy writing, especially if you want to compare to the original trilogy enemies.

The Geth are great enemies with a well written backstory and a satisfying end to their arc, between Legion and the fact that they actually caused debate and discussion they were excellent.

Cerberus was built up through the three games with a great backstory, like the geth they had shades of grey and were humanized through Miranda, Jacob and even EDI.

The Reapers were. Well, the AI who kill humans to save humans isn’t new but they were still handled well and I like the patched ending of ME3. The Leviathan DLC also helped a lot. They also gave a sense of urgency to the plot and were hard as shit to fight at times.

The Kett were never humanized, we never had shades of grey. They tried with the Exalted bit, but even the Angara weren’t really affected by it. It would have been more interesting if some faction of Angara who were against killing Kett. They weren’t particularly challenging, the Exalting thing wasn’t an interesting twist because the Reapers did it first.

The superiority complex wasn’t interesting because to varying degrees all the Milky Way aliens had it against the humans, the Reapers of course were the most severe. Maybe if I hadn’t played the other Trilogy I would be more impressed, but as it stands…not really.

The Angara

I dig the Angara. I have no salt about them, other than that they are the only species in Andromeda other than the Kett. Their backstory is interesting–not particularly original in Sci-Fi but original for ME (I am not comparing it to what the Salarians did with the Krogan of course). Their religion is fascinating as is their family structure, and I even like their look. I wish their Telepathic (???) abilities were expanded on however.

Jaal is obviously meant as a Proxy for Garrus, but without the years of build up I had no issue choosing Suvi over him.

Gameplay

I was pretty displeased that I lost my combat drone early on, my preferred build was engineer in the previous trilogy and I liked the way they improved the drone in 3. However Peebee finally gives you a bot so. You know, he kicked ass.

I don’t like that I could no longer direct my squadmates attacks, once I realized that I sort stopped caring about their builds or who I brought with me. That being said I loved the dialogue between your Squadmates on the Mako, listening to Jaal ask questions was well done and something I actually looked forward to.

The option for different builds..eh. I never played with it. I came up with a skillset I liked (bot, throw and overload) and stuck with it. Oh, I played with Shockwave, just because I was always jealous of Jack.

I feel like the Research and Development thing was better done with Skyrim and potions. Though, in their defense I’m not a huge shooter person, ME is the only shooter I play and it only vaguely falls into that category. My play style has always ha more of an emphasis on powers than guns. Between Resources, Research Points and mods it seemed like a bit of a chore. But I think someone who enjoyed the building mechanic and guns in general would probably be more into it.

The jumpjets were well done, not much to say there. The improved Mako was, well, improved, and made it much more enjoyable. The map was better, though the unlockable hidden staches were a bit of a pain in the ass.

Acquiring resources was much improved, and I appreciated the fact that you stumble onto more minor side quests. I always thought ME could use more of those AC and Skyrim style.

The scanner was…Not bad actually, annoying when it went off for the same stupid shit in every scavenger hideout, but still a well executed concept.

I could go on and on here, but I won’t.

Graphics

Look. It could be better right? No one is saying that they couldn’t be better, or that using Frostbite was a stellar idea, but they are not near as bad as everyone said.  Granted, Voeld is a strong green tint since the latest patch for me, for…reasons. But it’s liveable.

But Meridian? The Fiends? The Angara? Havaarl? All well done, and nothing to scoff at. When it comes to the facial designs and looks, they are on par with ME3, maybe a smidge higher sometimes, but the animation left some to be desired in comparison.

Fuck you EA, shove frostbite up your ass.

Representation

We needed better LGBT representation, hands down. The Fem!Ryder and Suvi storyline was adorable, I squealed and as a queer lady  I fucking loved it. But we could have used more representation, there really isn’t a lot of debate about that.

However! Women were represented better, not so much on the Nexus but I have seen more female Turians and Krogans in Andromeda than in all three previous games total.

We could have used more POC, especially Woc however.

Main Salt

Where are my fucking Quarians, where are my goddamn Drell? We saw two Drell total in Mass Effect, and you have no idea how much I wanted to see more in Andromeda. Don’t give me any bullshit about them being an endangered species okay, Eos and Elaaden would ba paradise for Drell, they were hands down the most under developed species in ME, even the goddamn Jellyfish got a moviestar.

Five. Count ‘em–Volus, Drell, Quarians, Elcor and Hanar were not represented in Andromeda. Holy shit. That is a fucking lot. Jesus. Did they forget? Were they lazy? Were they rushed? Were they incompetent? Tali’s people would have kicked ass in Andromeda. TVtropes as a great section on the headscratchers section about why the Quarians would have been useful, don’t give me any bullshit on Volus and Quarians needing special accommodations because for one this is a video game, make it work, for two they survive just fine on The Citadel and The Normandy.

Fuck off. I am so bitter about this. Keep Cora, give me a Quarian.

The girl at the end who was apparently raised by Quarians felt like a slap in the face. Knight should have been in a Quarian, it makes sense for her to be a Quarian.

There also should have been more ethical or moral decisions like the previous mass effect games, I don’t feel attached to my Ryder, I don’t feel like I really know her personality. Granted, maybe more time I have with her will help, but we don’t even know if there will be more.

Although her speeches were pretty great overall.

As a wrap up;

The game was good, it kept me engaged to the point that I finished it but I never truly felt emotionally invested.  It was not near as bad as everyone said, but it could use some DLCs(that we are never getting), it improved on some things from ME but feels like it was designed by someone who had read about ME and did not love it like we do.

I want to play  the original trilogy all over again, and I will replay Andromeda–but not anytime soon. Fuck Alien Sudoku.

Oh, Drack, Sid, Vetra and Suvi are the best. Fact.

P.S Avictus you are a disappointment.   

I would love to hear your opinions, whether they agree with mine or not :)

[[/more]]

[buildercar]

New Post has been published on http://www.buildercar.com/our-aluminum-four-seasons-2017-jaguar-f-pace-s-tows-an-aluminum-airstream/

Our Aluminum Four Seasons 2017 Jaguar F-Pace S tows an Aluminum Airstream

Science isn’t really my thing, but how about we do a little science-ing anyway. Our four seasons 2017 Jaguar F-Pace S is comprised of roughly 75 percent aluminum, with most of the body panels and its monocoque constructed from the stuff. Airstream trailers are the most recognizable aluminum soda cans on wheels (although it does have a steel frame). Aluminum towing aluminum? Sounds like a reasonable experiment to me.

Now let’s add some more variables into the Petri dish, namely my retired parents, who I decided to take camping with me in this setup after a 36-year outdoor family adventure hiatus. Snow in the forecast? Uh, maybe this is getting a bit too insane. But I was dying to see how well this 4,481 pound luxury SUV with a towing capacity of 5,290 pounds could pull the aerodynamic and graceful Airstream that weighed in at around 4,600 pounds with all our gear. Let the research begin!

Short of hauling a payload from Bloomingdale’s, actually towing anything of substance probably isn’t high on the priority list of most F-Pace owners. But somewhat surprisingly, Jaguar tells us that around 14 percent of customers opt for the tow package. For around $1,600 excluding labor, the local Jaguar Land Rover dealer can hook them up if they so desire like they did for us (the hitch is also available as a factory option depending on F-Pace spec). There was one small hiccup when we got to the Airstream dealer, however, the Curt Class III trailer hitch needed a more robust 2.5-inch ball mount. Airstream got us properly set up though and then walked my parents and I through the relatively simple hitching and unhitching process.

With Airstream’s 22 foot, single axle Sport edition having successfully joined our party, we were ready to roll. Right after the Airstream got hitched I took a step back, looked at the riveted fuselage hooked up to the Italian Racing Red F-Pace and was blown away at how damn handsome the whole package was. If we didn’t make it the approximately 300 miles each way from Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes and back in one piece, at least we’d look good on the side of the road somewhere.

Initial feedback on the F-Pace’s interior from Mom and Dad was positive. Both reported they were comfortable. Mom had plenty of legroom situated behind me. Dad didn’t find the 14 different seat adjustment options in his passenger side sport inspired bucket until we were 20 minutes from home on the way back, but I wasn’t about to make this trip twice solely so he could improve the comfort level of his backside. After a couple of hours of driving, my back started to feel a bit stiff. Perhaps the F-Pace is more conducive for shorter jaunts, or maybe it was because I was a little stressed given it was my first time hauling a big trailer.

The nav system was helpful enough, though inputting our final destination wasn’t as simple as I’d hoped. Eventually we it got figured out, but not without a requisite father/daughter scuffle over where to type in a popular destination instead of a specific address. You know I’d be lying if I didn’t cop to at least one such familial incident.

There are two beefs I have with the interior. First is the dial gear shifter. Aside from the fact that I was constantly worried I’d turn it the wrong way and throw it into reverse when I meant park, it’s a terrible waste of space on the center stack. I wouldn’t be disappointed if I never saw this used in any other car ever. Second, the window controls, which are placed on the top of the door panel where the controls for the rear-view mirror usually are. For someone like me with T-Rex arms, they were a bit of a stretch. They should be closer.

Not halfway through the five-plus hour drive and I forgot I was pulling anything.

The F-Pace’s 380 hp supercharged V-6 is a lot of animal. It produces plenty of torque as well at 332 lb-ft. The combo was more than enough to haul the lighting rod of a camper we were pulling toward the rapidly darkening skies circling over the mountains. The Driver’s Assistance Package ($3,200), that includes a 360-degree camera setup, adaptive cruise control, and a heads up display, was my best friend. Seeing behind the Airstream was near impossible, so I was thrilled to have driver-assisted anything.

The crucial part of our experiment would be the final hike from Bishop to Mammoth – an ascent of about 4,300 feet in only 45 miles. Quite quickly the looming storm turned into a full-fledged one when just outside of Bishop it started to rain. Okay, no problem. Firstly, because of the automatic wiper feature, and more importantly, because the F-Pace’s 113.1 inch wheelbase and 20-inch Goodyear Eagle F1 tires kept us feeling pretty stable. The double-wishbone front and Integral Link rear suspension setup is tuned to allow those Eagles to maintain as much contact with the road as possible throughout the ute’s full range of suspension travel, which was especially helpful when the trailer tried to knock us around on the bumps.

Somewhere around 5,000 feet it started to snow. “Just whatever you do, don’t tow anything in the snow,” was the one warning I got from a friend who knows. But there was no turning back now, because we needed to get to the campground and unhitch before sunset. Fuel efficiency during this final climb of the trip wasn’t pretty. We averaged as little as 6 mpg during the ascent, but I didn’t care as long as we got there in one piece. Which we did. Unhitching a trailer in below freezing temps isn’t something I endorse, but the nice folks at McGee Creek RV Park were amazing and helped get us set up before the Woodwards turned into the Donner party.

An Airstream doesn’t take long to figure out. Once you get it detached from your tow vehicle and cranked into place (the Sport model doesn’t have an automatic hitch jack, and hand cranking can be a bit of a workout, but it was cold and I didn’t mind) it’s simply a matter of plugging the right hoses into the right hookups and flipping on important things like the water pump and the heater, and you’re good to go. This wasn’t rocket science. Giving my parents the trailer in which to luxuriate for the week was the plan. I’d come prepared with a tent, but the weather became a control variable I hadn’t properly accounted for.

There was no way I was going to pitch a tent in the snow, so I opted to sleep in the F-Pace. (Note: Do not sleep in an F-Pace in subzero weather.) My 5-foot 5-inches fit okay in the 63.5 cu-ft of cargo room with the rear seats folded. However, they don’t fold completely flush so I was sleeping at a tilted angle. Despite having a memory foam mattress topper, a sleeping bag, a down comforter, and a hot water bottle at my feet, it was still about 25 degrees inside the car by sunrise.

By 9 a.m. I’d marched my parents across the street and got them set up in a lodge, and I took my rightful place in the Airstream. That’s more like it! (While Airstream claims the 22 foot Sport can sleep four adults, I’d say it was more suited for two adults and two half-sized children who don’t notice that the convertible dinette feels more like quartz countertop than a mattress.) In every other way it’s like the glamping pics you envy on Pinterest. It comes equipped with a gas stove top and convection oven, a full bathroom with a stand-alone shower, and plenty of windows to take in the vistas of wherever you’re pulling this metallic palace.

With the Jag unleashed from its yoke, we were eager to see how it ran on the windy roads of the Eastern Sierras. The AWD system made mountain twisties a blast even with me going a bit slower given that Mom was strapped down in the back seat. Steering felt balanced and responsive, quick, and well connected. The Jag’s Adaptive Dynamic Surface Response system monitors the body movement of the car and makes proportionate adjustments to the engine, transmission, steering and suspension, all of which helped make the Jaguar feel like a mountain lion. On fire roads or lose gravel it was prone to oversteer, but overall the F-Pace proved to be a hearty trooper. And an oh-so-stylish one at that, as it scores major style points in all the ways a crossover in this exploding luxury category should. While there are some out there who still may not fully embrace the notion of a Jaguar SUV, thanks to its elegant but aggressive bodylines and strong, cat-like haunches, it has more than enough Jaguar DNA to make it work for me.

During our two-day getaway, we marveled at wide valley vistas and caught two Rainbows, a Cutthroat, and a Scottish Brown trout during an outing on Lake Crowley. We ate pizza (as you do when it’s too windy to build a campfire and make S’mores) and tried to get to Lake Mary, but the road was still closed from Southern California’s biggest winter since 2010. Moreover, my family and I were reminded of the last time we’d come up to the area in the early ’80s, our gear packed into the trunk of a ’79 Mercury Marquis Brougham. Clearly, we’ve never been much of an outdoorsy family, but on this trip, as on the last, our one scientific constant was this already well-bonded family crushes luxury car camping.

Hitching up for the trip home was a breeze. On the trek back, I played with the F-Pace’s different drive modes while my parents slept like two spent kids after a long day at Disneyland. Eco mode was a bust. In addition to pulling the trailer it felt like ten refrigerators were added to our load. Dynamic mode definitely offered up more power, but I could watch the fuel gauge hurtle in real time toward empty faster than I’d like. Normal mode seemed just right as we cruised home. We averaged about 14 mpg over the entire trip, which is about the same gas mileage as a Buick Enclave does just driving itself. Color me impressed. Base price on the F-Pace is $58,695, as tested ours comes in at $71,360. The Airstream Sport’s starting price is $52,900.

My extremely scientific conclusion? Aluminum towing aluminum in the snow with retired parents turned out to be one fine experiment that bears duplication again and again.

Our 2017 Jaguar F-Pace S

MILES TO DATE 8,565 PRICE $71,360 ENGINE 3.0L supercharged DOHC 24-valve V-6/380 hp @ 6,500 rpm, 332 lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine, AWD SUV EPA MILEAGE 20/26 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 186.3 x 76.2 x 65.6 in WHEELBASE 113.1 in WEIGHT 4,015 lb 0-60 MPH 5.1 sec TOP SPEED 155 mph

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