#i keep wondering if they had shorter time to make their seasons if id enjoy it more

[videogameshibas]

Tosuke (?) (Jujustu Kaisen)

My evil rein of everything-shibas returns!!!!!! Look I saw a shiba and caved and cried :( Tosuke deserves a spot here.

At first I was like "I love shibas but why is one inexplicably here???" but then the little story just crushed my heart cause its so real. Granted its of any dogs nature to be there for you when no one else is but it just reminded me so much of my Alphonse who was on my feet at the time 🥹 10/10, Tosuke has done no wrong!!!!!!!

[emotionalsupportshelby]

Hi, I'm depressed it's almost 1am and I'm gonna blog my Peaky episode watch:

Episode: Series 4 episode 3

Let's go

My dad said Paul walks like a ape, and it's, all I see now... Like with both arms at the same time

Michael gives me so many mixed feelings but it's cute that his, adoptive mum showed up in the hospital

Village Michael was the best Michael

Does the adoptive mum know it was Michael's decision not to go back? She's out here, blaming Tommy, like babe... Tommy wanted Michael to go, he refused

ADA MY BABY

Polly counting the days she's gone without a fuck 😭 legendary behaviour only, you go be with someone unsuitable ma'am, we rooting for you

Hi Ada saying "behave yourself" is lowkey fucking hot

You never behave yourself Pol you go down with legends

Only Cillian could rock Harry Potter glasses with that Haircut and I am here for it

I'll make a post on this, later but Tommy needs a, woman like Linda, a women who gets him away for the Buisness

Im not a fan of Linda but Kate is gorgeous 😍

Why is everyone in this cast so hot though

No but I had to watch the Arthur and Linda, sex scene with my dad 😭😭 there's others but this is by far the worst 😭 I hate every time we get there 😭

"keep his balls empty and his belly full" Linda's mum >>>>

I hate myself for thinking this but I wonder if Helens hair drastically changed to this shorter one because she was going through treatment..it looks similar to my aunts, who went through breast cancer so I'm like 👀

Probably not cuz it's years before but.... Who knows

The paint fight scene must have been so fun to film... I love watching it each time

"I'm here as a lover of theatre" Me introducing my theatre nerd ass

I alwaud forget how good Adrien is in Peaky... Season 4 is one of my least favourite seasons but Adrien kills it as Luca even though I dislike his character in general

Arthur he had a fucking vote because it was planned to have the vote Just because you were getting fucked doesn't mean that stops

Arthur... John shoulda killed his teacher... Its not on you it's on his dumb ass

Kates smile is GORGEOUS

Arthur and Linda are a toxic relationship on each end and I hate that neither of them are getting happiness

She's trying to help you get out of the life which is damaging you Arthur, don't go Bat shit at her

100% found out that I've developed a new crush on Kate just now...can't wait to rewatch with this knowledge

"you have a lot of enemies" no shit mate... No fucking shit

JESSIE BABY HOW I HAVE MISSED YOU

and your muppet dress

You cannot say that that dress don't look like it's got muppet on

Ti's the Muppet dress..

Okay I made a post on this before but Cillians subtle yet heartbreaking acting when Greta gets brought up is a hyper fixation every damn time I watch this episode... Here's, my gif from last time

He looks so broken and I can't explain how much I love his acting choice there... Whether he even knew he was doing it or not

I'm so angry Jessie isn't coming back next series 😭

Her and Cillian had so much on screen (for lack of better word) chemistry and I'm sad we won't get any more of it 😭

Greta is still Tommys truest love and possibly his ownly love and I will go to my grave thinking that

Jessie/Charlie deserves SO much more love than she got and I'm forever bitter about how dirty she was done

Cillians acting in this scene is heartbreakingly subtle yet beautiful and I'm in awe

Arthur firing the bullet, I'm not a HUGE Arthur fan but he needs to go and get therapy and find happiness

Lizzie is under appreciated as the woman who isn't with Tommy... She is so much more than Tommy's wife

"Tommy said yes, Arthur said yes"

"but did God say yes" - I love Polly 😭

Finn trying to be in charge, bby no

As someone who has been to Blackpool... That is the happiest look you will ever see... I stayed at a hotel there for a con and it didn't even have a fucking window... We were in a box... I feel Tommy had the same experience

Lizzie, Polly and Linda arranging a girl for Finn gives more proof that he's fruity 🍓

"nice women don't do that sort of thing"

"yes they do, look at you" - we love sweet Tommy one liners 🥺

Hi if tommy wants to take me to the docks Id love that because it's, precious as fuck 🥺

He is fully in his head fucking Greta here but its still a fucking sweet moment and I love it

HE PROMISED GRETA HE WAS GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD GUYS I CANT 😭

The way he goes back to talking business straight after having sex 😭 boy, rest dammit

"I don't want it like that ever again Tom" cuz you are interested in the other gender?

This scene woulda been a great one for Finn to come out to Tommy and I'm bitter it didn't happen, Steven recognise he ain't straight dammit

I remember watching the scene where Polly 'betrays" Tommy the first time and being so fucking pissed 😂 Still lowkey stresses me the fuck out

I always think I dislike S4 until I watch it and then I'm like damn... What a masterpiece ✨

Top 3 thinks I've thought:

1. Wow Kate is gorgeous and I hate that I've ignored it this long

2. Tommys romantic side who has his guard down needs to be shown more

3. It's not gonna be the same without Helen, I just pray they do it respectfully 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Ahhh that was fun... Hope you enjoyed my commentary 😂

(it's now 2am...oops 🙈)

[popculturebuffet]

The Owl House: Enchanting Grom Fright: Happy Valentine’s Gays

Happy Valentine’s Day owl ladies, gentleman and non-binary folks! It’s time to finish off this holiday in proper style with a LONG overdue review of enchanting Grom Fright and even longer overdue coverage of the Owl House.  The Owl House was one of the best debuts of last year if not THE best, only in contention because Close Enough also started last year and looks to surpass regular show in terms of quality. But with stunning animation, tons of representation, and colossal worldbuilding. And given how i’m on record for thinking Star Vs went so far down the tubes they bumped into where Cthulu is sleeping, it’s nice to have another magic based show that seems to be on the right track: carefully building i’ts world, supporting cast and for today’s topic main romance. It also rather than just obliquely hint one character was bi and the other pan, actually goes out of it’s way to have a bisexual protaginst with a gay love intrest. As my good friend @jess-the-vampire has brought up quite a bit, star had plnety of options. .but no willingness to actually campaign for any queer rep, the way Gravity Falls head Alex Hirsch tried to, he still gets credit for trying, and Owl House creator Dana Terrace gets full credit for. 

Terrace got her start working on Gravity Falls in line production before working her way up to directing for ducktales, being instrumental in how Webby was animated and how she moves and acts, and being the director for several classic season one episodes including “Woo-Hoo!”, “The Spear of Selene” , “Day of the Only Child!” which was one of my faviorites from season 1 and “The Beagle Birthday Massacre!”. And while I can’t 100% confirm she’s the only part responsible for starting Weblena, given she was director on an episode where a lot of the romantic subtext was in the visuals, she certainly helped so thank you Dana. Thank you a lot. Their adorable. Point is she’s a talented lady and wasn’t satisfied with directing, so she pitched her own show, combining tons of ides and stuff including of all things, Pokemon Red. I checked the article wikipedia had sourced, it was one of her happy childhood memories as it was one of the last things her dad gave her. Awwwwwww. That’s as sweet as it is painful. She’s also currently dating Alex Hirsch, something I was entirely unaware of but find also adorable. Point is i’m glad I looked into her as she’s a very nice person, and very much my kind of weirdo and i’m happy for her sucess and her singuarly weird show that sprung from that sucess. 

Now that part of it’s out of the way the episode itself was an uphill battle as you’d expect. As anyone familiar with this blog is aware, but just in case your new, you tend to hear me bitching about Disney’s handling of queer represntation a LOT

For the most part Disney’s pretty bad at it: There was the string of “FIRST GAY CHARACTER IN AN X” they had going for a while.. that consisted of a character I dind’t realize was gay, a kiss I didn’t see, and a talk with a character who I honestly wouldn’t of been looking for had disney not patted themselves on the back with some giant sized hands because htey saved some pym particles for that occasion. Ducktales was unable to have Penumbra come out as gay more clearly because I don’t know Ducks can’t be day.. but they can be IMPLIED to be gay or pansexual as hard as the crew possibly can so they win anyway. Pixar was able to have a gay lead character for one of it’s sparks shorts out and even focused on him coming out of the closet and it’s very good and something I WILL give Pixar credit for... but not Disney Plus who go out of their way to not mention the lead being gay.. despite the fact the short opens with a gay space cat riding a gay space dog out of a rainbow and then it being revaled our lead is in a relationship not long into the short. My point is the idiots who won’t watch this for having gay characters are just going to turn it off, who cares what they think, why are you like this Disney. They need to do better, and be better and i’m getting tired of this shit.

That being said... this episode is a step in the right directoin as despite having to get past one obstructive asshole, not her words but damn if it isn’t the truth, as the rest of hte execs were fine with having a gay character, Terrace fought hard for it and WON, having a clearly gay character, and a clear road to a gay romace as the lead one, all because she wanted some representation in her works. So to honor this, I present this review in honor of love, effort and saying screw you to not having represntation because money. Join me under the cut and allt hat. 

We open in the owl house, in the owl house, duck dodge push and shove, it’s how we show our love in the.. you get the point. Luz is learning yet another Rune, this time plant runes.. and already something I love about the series pops up: the fact Luz’s rise in skill is gradual but noticable. Each spell noticably improves in potency with time,  going from simple lights to shaping them into simple constructs, and learning to control or time her spells and glpyhs so they launch she she says so, with each one getting more powerful the more she learns. And on top of that osmething I just noticed on rewatch of this episode is her tecnique in finding them evolved, something I dind’t notice the first time because I hadn’t fully caught up and checked this one out to see if Disney would actually let them go through with it.. and they did. Point is her first spell is found by accident, her second by realizing how her magic works fundemntally, both require skilled deduction and on the fly thinking and casting, so she’s already pretty skilled.. but now sh’es ACTIVELY seeking out a new spell here for the first time. She knows how she gets them, she knows each school is tied to a form, and she likely got the plant from williow since that’s her thing and she’s a saint. A demon but also a saint. They can have those too. It’s what I assume relicor is. 

I miss that goblin demon bat man. Point is it shows an evolution in Luz’s thinking: while it’s a subtle thing she took a more proactive approach this time even if it took a lot of practice.. and it pay soff as by the time of her next rune, while it’s once again sorta handed to her she has less time to learn it, almost none, and finds it singed onto a ball.. and learns it effortlessly to the point where by the next episode it’s a crucial plot point. IT’s subtle but clever character progression, and stuff I really enjoy, showing our hero going from a bit inept but not helpless or incomptient.. to a force to be reckconed with and far more clever and strategic than yo’ud expect given her sometimes reckless and almost always happy go lucky attitude. 

Luz worries teaching King about the internet was a bad idea because he gets excited about a literal cat fight which .. yeah... it was a bad idea but not because of that.. but because next he finds someone saying the earth is flat and she wisely yanks it away. It’s.. very sad that the absolutley maddening and easily debunked flat earth theory is still RELATIVLEY more sane than the stuff we’ve had pop up during the trump era and the cornoavirus pandemic. 

But one of the main conlficts of the episode pops up as Luz’s mom messages her and Luz can’t bring herself to tell her anything and just sends a thumbs up.  I do think this episode helps even things from the pilot a bit as it was a bit lopsided: While I got that Camillia was genuinely struggling with how to deal with Luz, and was offered an out and had to take it... the fact she sees NO problem with the normalcy camp, which comes off intentioanlly or not a sa parallel to conversion camps or camps to make autistic kids “Normal”. And as someone whose both bisexual and autistic, I naturally relate to luz way more as someone whose intrests sometimes just don’t quite fit with everyone else, and who dosen’t get how bad some of their actions were.  THat’s why this episode feels like a necessary course correction: Luz is shown to genuinely love her mama and feel guilty.. but we see camilia genuinlely loves and supports her daughter a bit more. While it was clear from the pilot this shows it more, with her genuinely just wanting to know her daughter’s okay and checking up on her, and giving me the feeling that possible consequences or no if something bad WAS happening or she didn’t hear from her for a long time, she would’ve drove up there to get her. It feels like the writers realized the implications they accidently created and wanted to fix it, though I can’t say for certain. But if so good on you for course correcting, not every show does that. 

But King encourages her, telling her she’s doing the right thing by lying and to “trust the demon on your shoulder”. Keep this in mind for later, but that joke is great on it’s own. But soon i’ts time for school and Hooty.. barfs out Luz’s books for her. 

I haven’t been this disturbed since.. (Looks at the clock) About 2 maybe three hours ago when I watched a man have, if apparently shorter than the oriiginal cut as I wanted to see everyone else’s reactions dammit, sex with hiis car which was possesed by the mad ghost of his dead wife. Because that’s the kind of stuff i’m into when i’m not reviewing stuff. And before that Tinky.. just everything about tinky. 

I do not have enough time to get into TInky here or why he exestially horrifies me. Or why Jeff blim is a living god. I will save that for a proper review if I have the time tomorrow. Point is I saw a lot today and that still tops it. Willow and Gus are likewise grossed out and want to leave. 

Cut to school where Luz wonders what’s with all the decorations.. that remind me of this honestly

And frankly given the whole state of the boiling isles it REALLY wouldn’t surprise me if the decorations were indeed well cooked faces. But i’ts Grom time, which means elaborate gromposals (Some Dude asks Skara out with a beating heart and an elaborate medical proposal.. which.. points for effort. And for using an actual heart. Couldn’t get one for mine. ), dancing and someone being chosen for Grom Queen. WHich Willow hints isn’t as nice as that sounds. Before we can get into that though Amity bumps into them and gets into a tizzy before meekly greeting “Luz.. and Co”. which.. not going to lie.. is my faviorite gag of the season. Just htw way she adds them and just the way Willow and Guz both smile widely at it as if to say “That’s us!”. Amity drops a note and snatches it back. This will be important later, you all know why, point is Amity becomes Grom Queen.. and is heavily depressed with Luz following her to find out why.  At the gym.. she does indeed ifnd out why: Turns out Grom is not some mutation of an earthname but is based around a horrifying entity lurking beneath the isles, Gromethious the Fear Bringer, who emerges from his slumber once a year and must be fought back and brings out his target’s greatest fears. Just like groundhog day only with less time loops and rodent abuse. Amity is scared of hers, and i’ll obviously get into this more later, and Luz simply suggests asking bump to opt out and Amity appricates the support. Awwww. 

Luz heads home and we find out Eda is chaperoning and King is mcing. Eda is also rocking a suit. Just damn girl, damn. But Luz considers taking her place.. and gets laughed at, with Eda assuming she’ll have to save her and King just being kind of a dick. I mean he’s a loveable thoroughly cuddly dick but he’s still a dick... just more like a stuffed plushie of one.  So basically exactly like Tinky. Look I mention him more than once in this review he dosen’t put me in the bastard box. It’s a great system.  Naturally this makes Luz more determined than ever to prove herself and she finds Amity in the night, with Amity having been unable to get out of it.. and Bumps a resonable guy, he just wants a substitute and no one wants the job.. except Luz who galdly volunteers and insists ntohing scares her before the giant spider on the back of her head proves otherwise. Because of course it does, spiders are fucking terrifying. Kill then all.. except the pokemon ones. Galvaltula are sweethearts. As are Ariadoses. Sweethearts who can elctorcute or poison you but still. 

So the next way Luz begins preparing.. and by that I mean it’s time for training. Sadly we don’t get an episode of Luz and Amity getting trapped in an 80′s fashion montage... I mean yes Rise of the TMNT also did that plot the same year, but we had two diffrent plots about someone getting trapped in an eldtrich sitcom and a THIRD this year, all entertaingly unique. Though we do get Luz pulling out an otter suit that’s adorable and she sadly still hasn’t worn yet. “This one says i’m an otter, with a dark side”. She also got thrown out of a school dance for.. wearing an otter suit. Okay the other things we saw in the pilot were understandable but htis is just.. baffling. Who cares what you wear to a dance as long as it isn’t horribly racist of nothing at all. 

Damn you flanders and your glorious ass. Point is Amity shows up and threatens hooty’s life because.. he’s hooty. The fact he isn’t dead already is a testiment to how badass he is and how much money he’d cost Eda to replace. Owl Tubes don’t come out of a stygian hole in the unvierse every day you know. That’s only every three years. It’s basic styigan owl tube science. 

But Amity wants her to be ready and that she’ll have to face her greatest fear.. and cue hooty popping up, poking amity in the face and asking if she wants to know her greatest fear. Really he can clearly hear everything in the house given he heard that, so he heard the death threat he just chose to ignore it. That.. was a mistake. And by mistake I mean we get a hilarious cut to the outside of the house as Luz tries to stop her love intrest from murdering her second mom’s tube monster. The result is some bandages and an eyepatch. To be fair that last one was just flaring up from a  previous beating. 

For this solem task of training, Amity has brought in her local disaster bisexuals.. aka her twin siblgins Eldric and Elmyra, whose greatest fears are dying alone and being stuck with Eldric. Both understandable. They conjur luz’s greatest fears which are.. some of the funniest shit I heard all year.. and also very relatable. Human souls in cat bodies, which is genuinely terrifying good job Luz, Jerks on the internet who mansplain things, relatable, and soy milk. 

But Amity knows this is just the openign act. it needs to be something deeper.. so while Luz dosen’t realize it’s probably her mom issues she brings up her issues with her other mom: that Eda dosen’t think she can do this. Hence we get a giant eda putting Luz in a babychair. Before we can unpack how wrong that sentence sounded, Eda comes out, and marvels at how hot giant her is. But she’s quickly distracted from sex with a giant version of herself, which is not an easy feat, by the relization “Wait Luz is going to fight grom isn’t she.. fuck i’m going to have to save her”, though Luz holds firm on doing it to prove she’s fine and dosen’t need to be saved constantly. it’s a good conflict. Eda IS right that Luz is not ready for this alone, that she’s overcompensating and that Eda would, in normal circumstances be the one to rescue her. As we’ll see it’s not her who does it but still, were this any other foe she probably would be. But Luz’s motivations are equally understandable: She wants to help her friend not have to do this and she wants to prove she can do it. She just wants her mentor, the only person in her life up to meeting her that GNEUINELY supported her in magic to respect her. To have faith in her and actually see how far she’s come. And given how her own mother writes off her dreams, if not unrealistically, and before this she had no friends or support system to speak of outside her mom, it’s easy to see why this is so improtant to Luz: she just wants to make the one person in her life whose ever support her actually think it was worth it when in truth Eda already thinks it does and just dosen’t want her to die. 

She’s just not good with talking to her or not condescending to her as her own ego is stacked sky high, probably because the whole curse thing meant Eda was an outcast by default and the system wants to either chain her to one form of magic and one only or shackle her to them as a hired goon. Her ego, while justified, is also a defense mechanism: a way to shield herself from the fact almost no one cares about her and one of the few people who DOES, dosen’t care what she wants or needs. Once the curse happened she lost just about everything and had to rebuild and thus build up walls around herself and kept everyone else at arms length till Luz changed her for the better. It’s just a tragic clash of two wills both with similar problems but both unwilling to talk about them. 

But with time up, our heroes need to get to the diggity dance. So they indeed do and we get some fun sight gags, Willow makes corsages,  that one girl with the cresent head somehow ended up with Mathomule and is not happy, as anyone who ends up with him should. And it’s time for Luz to face her destiny.. in a tux with a tutu because of course, and Amity likes it because also of course. 

IT’s time to rumble, with King getting nervous due to eda’s prodding about mcing since his co-mc gus is really good at it, and introducing our champion.

No wait sorry he’s still trapped in Mojoworld. no it’s still Luz who shows off a seasons worth of skill by easily dispatching the first few fears and saying to grom let’s finish it.. before grom puts a tentacle on her head. 

It’s to downlaod her fear.. which is Camillia. Granted we could all see it coming but still Luz obviously can’t fight her own mother or her own overwhelming guilt.. her mom did hurt her.. but she gets why and just loves her and wants her to be proud but dosen’t know what to do: tell her the trutha nd possibly loose a happy and fufilling life or wait until it all blows up. It’s a painful choice. So luz and king end up running. King runs first because he can’t handle it and Gus talks him back into the groove while Luz runs away because she can’t fight her own mom, understandable, and Gus encourages king to lead the crowd which he does. Amity and Eda follow Luz. 

So Luz is backed down, facing down a monster tha’ts going to go on to everyone else next if she fails... and Eda prepares to interfere.. but it’s AMITY who faces her fear and dives in. And we find out just what her fear was as grom turns into a humanoid shape and rips the letter in half.. it was a grom invitation. Though conviently the who it’s adressed to was ripped out. 

And yeah not going to save this one: It’s Luz. You know it I know it I didn’t even hide it in the intro. Even before the reveal in a bit it was obvious. But it also makes perfect sense. I’ve avoided talking about her character arc up to this point because I was waiting for now. Amity’s growth is the third major arc of the season behind Luz’s slow learning of magic and eventually induction into hexside and eda’s curse, which I lump in with Lilith chasing her since both were mildly entertwined and then entirely are once the reveal hits in the finale. When we meet her she’s an outright bully.. but we slowly see there’s more there. That she’s not really HAPPY or content, is contstantly under pressure by her family name, is outright bullied by her own siblings who don’t understand her. So Luz coming in, seemingly only being intrested in magic because i’ts neat.. understandably bothers her. She’s not a great person, bullying her old best friend because tha’ts what’s expected and being close with outright bullies because of that.. but it’s through Luz she starts to grow, realizing Luz is genuinely nice and genuinely sorry for any trouble she caused Amity, and evne then both cases were causaed by Amity’s own dickishness and outside forces, so it’s easy to see why she defrosts faster. Her siblings realize they’ve genuinely hurt her, and actually try to be good siblings from then on and help her, and slowly Amity learns to truth luz, trust in her, and accept her... and thus accept her feelings for her. There are gradual hints she’s growing attracted to her.. but her walls had to come down first, and it wouldn’t of worked from the outset. The show cleverly has the two build a genuine friendship, two opposities who work well together, so when feelings do happen it feels natural. It’s not “I’m in love with this person because I have to because you can’t be friends with someone your attracted to” bullshit or anything like that, cough star vs cough, it’s just well built catching feelings. I’ts how this kind of thing SHOULD go: niether went in intending for this to happen.. it’s just happening. 

And Amity’s reluctance is painfully understandable, as Luz is the ONLY friend and support she has. Sure she and willow are patching things up, but WIllow would understandably choose luz over her and she’s terrified of loosing the one good thing in her life. Of course Luz would either say yes, and probably will some day, or let her down gently, she’s nice.. but it’s also understandable to be afraid that someone won’t take the reveal well. I’ve been there trust me, it’s easier when you let it out even if you get rejected, but I get it being hard to let out because you don’t want to loose a friend. I did not, and niether would she, but I can see why she wouldn’t want ot take the plunge. At least not yet. We’ll see this summer hopefully. 

But we do get a shiptastic, gorgeously aniamted scene of the two dancing an fightin gin perfect synch, combinging luz’s new use of plant magic with amity’s mastery of abominations resulting in the two utterly decimating grom, likely in part because with two fast moving targets he can’t get a lock on and likely nees more fear and mass to attack multiple targets at once. Or just more tendrils. it’s a quick, beautful sequence that’s utterly glorious, being framed as romantic as any hetero scene of the type and rightfully so. A triumph and well deserving of this praise. 

Our heros have won, get crowns, and King gets praise. All is well.. except Luz drops the crown once she gets home because she feels like she failed and feels lost about her mom.. though at least king gets it “I’m king and queen, best of both things!”. You tell em sister. 

So we end with Luz genuinely responding to her mom, with some montage stuff as we see Gus and Willow poke a fear blob, willow fears bugs, understandable and Gus fears clowns... 

Also understandable. Though I didn’t put up a bug picture because

And Amity looks out folornly into the night. Camilla responds to Luz.. and mentions letters.. which while Luz brushes those off.. we see someone sent them. And by someone I probably mean king since we now know only eda and him had acess to the portal, and given he was actively encouraging her to lie.. yeah i’m supscious. But we’ll see next season. For now this episode is fan fucking tastic, showing off tons of character development, being representative and sweet as all hell.. and being really funny. Tons of great gags in this one including the turtle guy from an earlier episode being forced to be adisco ball.  This is easily the series best so far and if you haven’t checked it out, please do it’s fantastic as is this show. Check both out. Until the next rainbow i’ts been a pleasure. Tommorow more disney shenanigans this time with pete. And also more of this possibly we’ll see what I get done. 

Goodnight everybody!

[norcumii]

Reblogged from the prior journal, originally posted on 11/02/2017. Egged on by @poplitealqueen!

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WELL I WASN’T PLANNING ON THIS, and in fact have been screeching the entire way I’m not writing RvB crossover with Clone Wars, but then @aces-to-apples HAD to go make a comment and I happened to see it in that sweet spot right between “i am sleeping GO AWAY” and “give me CAFFEINE” where ideas can lodge themselves.

And Grey is. Uh. Loud. So y’all get first pass no nope totally not doing more STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT fic. Timeframe is bullshitting and from my knowledge of only the first 12 seasons (…ok, ok, and 4 episodes into 13. But none of that is relevant, I think). No longer under a cut because we see how well that worked last time.

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Kix hadn’t been with the patrol that had returned with an unconscious, armored person, but he heard plenty in the time it took her to wake up. This was supposed to be a quiet little planet, but the locals were working with the Seps to keep it interesting, by which he meant they had a functional base for once, but he spent more of his time at it fixing up brothers than out and about fighting.

Having someone in an unknown type of armor “appear out of thin air” with an “abnormal thunder-crack” only for her to faceplant? Unusual, even for the 501st. He didn’t like having an unknown factor stored among his wounded, but after they’d removed the armor to find what seemed to be a baseline human? Not too many better options. She had one hand shackled to the bed, and meanwhile Kix could keep an eye on her while doing his rounds, and hopefully the natives would be quiet for the next half rotation.

The almost shrill voice cut through the wounded brothers’ murmurs like a knife. “Oh. It looks like transposing the coordinates can make it past the blockade. Score another one for Science!” The woman sat up slowly, giving the binders on her wrist an absent frown. “That’s not Charon tech so – ” She stopped with a sharp inhale, looking around and going wide-eyed. The entire room was watching now, because injured brothers got bored and those who were mobile enough to do weapon and armor maintenance usually enjoyed a distraction.

The woman’s eyes went wider and she squeaked. Kix was already hustling over, but he couldn’t help but wonder at the tone and body language. That didn’t look scared.

“OH MY GOD I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM AND LOOK AT YOU!”  Every brother in the blast radius of the screech recoiled because she somehow got even more piercing. “IDENTICAL BONE STRUCTURE AND BUILD AND THERE’S NO WAY THAT COULD BE NATURAL DEVIATION THOUGH YOU AND YOU AND YOU I WANT TO STUDY YOUR DNA AND FIND OUT JUST WHAT MUTATIONS HAPPENED ARE YOU CLONES WHAT DEVIANCE FROM BASELINE WAS CONSIDERED– ”

“Quiet in my med bay,” Kix hissed, having no compunctions about grabbing the nearest scalpel and getting into the woman’s personal space. He had his free hand on her shoulder, ready to dig into a nerve cluster if he had to, and blade held with clear intent. He might be medical but he’d never liked the Kaminoan’s distant view of every one of them as a science experiment. He wasn’t about to take this from a shrieky civilian.

Her volume immediately dropped into a more normal range but she didn’t stop gushing. “– and I don’t know this tech either are you using a nuclear based power or plasma and what kind of battery life does it have and Sweetie if you’re looking to disable my arm you want to move two centimeters to the left for maximum speed and is that a submersion tank I see why is the fluid red is it– ”

Carp – one of the brothers she’d pointed too earlier, possibly due to his green eyes – shook his head. “Lady, your neck isn’t long enough for you to be that Kaminoan.”

“– is that some kind of cultural reference or are– ”

“Quiet,” Kix repeated, this time with mild pressure to the nerve cluster. Which he was not two centimeters off of, because he had a fucking scalpel and that was far better to disable someone with. This was just to get her attention.

Urgh. Something about scientists critiquing his technique instead of an actual trainer always set his hackles up.

The woman shushed for a moment, then gave him an annoyed look. “My emergency teleportation cube fiddling means I’m either in some alternate universe – and since this doesn’t look like Chorus I think not – or I’m someplace far far different which with this radically different level of tech is where I’d put the smart money. And you expect me to not ask questions?”

“You are in my medical facility, so I expect you to have some respect for my patients. That does not include treating us like experiments.”

The annoyance morphed to fond condescension. “Oh Sweetie. I treat everyone like experiments. That’s the only way it’s fun!”

“Well, ad’ika,” he snarled right back, “some of us have standards.”

She sighed. “I know, but it’s statistically impossible for anyone to meet mine. But! We do what we can in the meantime.” She held up the binders that had been around her wrist and a part of the bed.  “By the way was this supposed to be difficult to remove or was that your own little test?”

Kix glared, and he could hear an impressed whistle behind him. He swapped the glare over to the offender, Squint. Good brother, not too bright, but an expert with explosives. Squint also had no healthy fear of medics.

“That was under five minutes.”

That earned Squint the fond look. “Of course it was. Locking mechanisms tend to be the same everywhere, you need to line up the bits with the other bits. I will grant you that this was a bit of a challenge though I am rusty.”

Squint rolled his eyes right back. “That was basic binders. It shouldn’t have taken more than two, even if it’s unfamiliar tech.”

“For a civvie?” someone asked behind Kix where he couldn’t ID the bastard.

Squint shrugged at them. “I dunno, but can you imagine Sergeant Duvell accepting anything over two?”

The woman’s eyes darted among the brothers doing the teasing, then of all the damn things locked back on to Kix. “Two minutes to escape unknown technological levels of handcuffs.”

He couldn’t tell what that tone meant, and some instincts were hard to kick. He answered the damned scientist. “On the outside, for non-human based constructs. Our teachers had high standards.”

For the first time she glared, looking annoyed. “No one learns that fast. *I* don’t learn that fast.”

Squint needed to learn to keep his mouth shut. “We have to. We do.”

Her face lit up and she looked like she was having some kind of religious moment. “Show me.”

Kix couldn’t tell if that was a demand for training or evidence, but he was ‘saved’ by the klaxon that meant incoming wounded. He let out a string of irritated Huttese, because while they had the beds for once they didn’t have the brothers they needed to get the wounded to them. He stepped back from the creepy scientist and his his wrist com. “Everyone who’s still mobile and had either two hours or less than three stims, hit triage now.”

“You don’t have enough medical personnel, do you.”

He glared at the creepy scientist, then stepped close enough to keep his growl quiet. He didn’t need the men to hear this. “If you’re volunteering, I don’t take help from folks who putter around in a lab all day. If you haven’t spent at least a full day wrist deep in living, screaming people and kept more of them alive than not, sit down and badger these brothers and stay away from incoming wounded.”

He didn’t expect a sunny smile, nor the woman hopping to her feet. “I’m shorter than you so it’s sometimes closer to elbows than wrists, but lead the way! I promise not to waste time taking notes while treating patients but I will need something to write on later!”

Within two patients, Kix knew several things.

She was in fact as good as she’d implied. Her bedside manner was useless except for the fact that she seemed like she could keep even Jedi in Medical long enough for treatment, which he wasn’t about to complain.

He couldn’t decide if he wanted to kill her, or adopt her.

~end

[ageless-aislynn]

Title: “Switch” Author:  @ageless-aislynn​ Characters/fandom: Caitlin Snow/Harrison Wells|Eobard Thawne (ReverseSnow), The Flash Summary: Getting swapped into Harrison Wells’ body is an eye-opening experience for Caitlin. In more ways than one. For Snowells Week 2019, Day 3, prompt: Body-Swap Rating:  PG Length:   1,404 Spoilers/warnings: None Disclaimer: Definitely not mine but I do enjoy borrowing them just for a bit! ;) A/N: Body-swapping is one of my favorite tropes, so I could probably have fun writing a full-length ReverseSnow novel on it, lol! But, in lieu of that, here's a shorter little bit set in season 1. ;) If you read, I hope you enjoy! :D ♥

"I'm not sure," Cisco mused speculatively as he and Caitlin entered the Cortex. "'Mixer-Switcher' just doesn't feel like my best effort when it comes to metahuman names. Sounds too much like I'm calling him a DJ. Or, I dunno, saying he's not sure if he's a top or bottom. It just doesn't have that spot-on-but-still-family-friendly feel I try for."

"I'm sure you'll think of something--" Caitlin was saying as Dr. Wells turned from his computer, eyes widening.

"Look out!" he called and she spun in time to see the man in the half-black, half-white outfit pop through the doorway behind them.

"Maybe I'm a DJ who's really into BDSM," he said snidely, his gauntlets glowing as he took aim. As he fired, Barry sped in and tackled him.

The glancing edge of the blast sent Caitlin flying backwards, crashing next to Dr. Wells' wheelchair.

"Cait, you okay?" Cisco's voice sounded momentarily like it was distorted underwater.

"Dr. Snow?"

Dr. Wells rolled forward enough to get a hand around her upper arm, helping her to her feet with surprising strength.

"I'm okay," she told them both, attempting a reassuring smile. A tremor in her knees made her almost collapse. Embarrassingly, she nearly sat in his lap before managing to change trajectories to fall heavily in her chair.

"You don't look okay," Dr. Wells chided, wheeling over and tilting her head towards the light before running his hand over her skull. "Did you hit your head? Lose consciousness, even for a second?"

His touch was gentle and professional but still she blushed, having to fight the urge to lean into him. "Um, yes. I mean, no. I'm fine, I didn't hit my head or black out."

Up close, his blue eyes seemed especially piercing behind his glasses and it felt like he could see right through her. To deflect, she went on, "So, do we even have a lock on the door? How do these guys keep just walking in?"

***

A couple hours later, with Mixer-Switcher -- Cisco was right, the name could definitely use some work --  firmly ensconced in the Pipeline, Caitlin sighed as she turned her bathtub's faucets. She stripped and hung up her clothes, returning to add her favorite bath bomb. While waiting for the tub to fill, she noticed a faint bruise on the top of her shoulder. Twisting and turning, she checked herself in the mirror for any other injuries from her erstwhile tangle with the meta. She suddenly thought of Dr. Wells running his hand through her hair and her expression went a bit dreamy.

No, she thought sternly, jabbing a finger at her reflection. Harrison Wells is your boss, he's your friend, and he's not going to be the subject of some schoolgirl crush! You get these thoughts out of your head right now or--

She crashed to the ground in a suddenly much dimmer environment, hearing a glass shatter. The sharp scent of whiskey hit her nose.

For a moment, she just blinked, trying to get her bearings. Her surroundings were sparse, elegant and unfamiliar. The way she'd sprawled forward was uncomfortable so she awkwardly rolled over, gawking at the long legs stretching out before her, wearing black, well-tailored pants which were currently twisted.

"Mixer-switcher," she groaned aloud, then startled.

Oh no, I know that voice, she thought in alarm. Automatically, she looked down, patting the surprisingly firm, sculpted chest beneath the white dress shirt he'd been wearing at work today. Then she felt the angles and plains of the face she'd covertly admired for so long up to the hair she'd longed to ruffle -- wait, where were his glasses? Had they gotten knocked off when he'd fallen? Where was his wheelchair, for that matter?

She squirmed as the uncomfortable sensation threatened to spike into pain in a region she didn't possess in her own body. Plucking at the pants, she tried to... adjust things back into proper alignment from the outside, only to hiss when it got worse.

Well, I can't risk, you know, doing damage, she thought, rationalizing as she fumbled with the button and fly of his pants and reached in to move things about.

She couldn't help it, she looked, needing to visually confirm what his hand was telling her. "Oh my God," she blurted out, his voice shocked.

Her mind idly noted he was a boxer-briefs man. Tardily, she also realized she could feel his hand on his-- Whoa, feeling it a little too much, she thought, yanking away. I thought he didn't have sensation below the waist? Maybe it's just movement that's paralyzed?

His knees bent easily and she was standing before she even articulated the thought.

Harrison Wells wasn't paralyzed.

While she was trying to process that bombshell, the phone jangled loudly. The next thing she knew, she'd crashed into the wall at the end of the long room hard enough to leave a small crater where his shoulder hit.

The impact also made her aware of something hard in his pocket. She pulled out a heavy gold ring with the Flash's symbol. No, it wasn't the Flash's.

The reverse, she thought numbly. She put it on, it fit his finger perfectly. Muscle memory took over, his arm extended, fingers folding into a fist and there was some sort of electric push and--

The yellow suit somehow ejected out of the ring, unfolding as it majestically arced through the air. Then it gave an undignified splat onto the polished floor, skidding to a stop in a puddle of thick fabric.

Through the few seconds of eternity that had completely tipped her world on its head, the phone had continued to ring. Looking down, the number on the Caller ID was quite familiar as she picked up.

"So it seems that Mixer-Switcher's powers can have a delay," her voice said dryly without preamble. "His other body exchanges wore off anywhere from a few hours to a day but I wouldn't think it should take that long in this case since it--"

"What. The. Hell?" His voice thundered quite satisfactorily.

Harrison paused, then took on the reasonable professor tone he'd used often in the past. "I take it you've discovered a few things?"

"Ya think?" she snapped.

"I can explain."

"Explain? You're going to explain this, huh?!?" Oh yeah, it felt good to yell in his voice.

"Caitlin, calm down. Let's talk. Stay there and I'll--"

She suddenly fell to the floor in her bedroom. "Ouch," she grumbled, using her bed to lever herself to her feet. She was now wearing a mismatched bra and panty set and the bra was apparently fastened wrong.

The distinctive buzz of a speedster phasing through a solid surface was all the warning she had before the man in the yellow suit appeared before her, eyes glowing red. Then he abruptly pulled his mask back and regarded her steadily.

"Why were my pants unzipped?"

"That-- I was... That was totally innocent," she spluttered.

He arched a brow.

"You touched my lingerie," she pointed out, crossing her arms.

"Would you rather I went ahead and bathed you? Or left you naked?"

She gestured defensively, scrambling to regain her righteous anger. "This is all beside the point, Reverse Flash."

"Hm, true," he mused, slowly stepping towards her until she automatically backed up, her legs hitting the bed. She abruptly wondered just how much danger she was in. Strangely, she didn't feel afraid.

"It seems to me we can help each other here," he said softly. "You keep my secrets, I'll keep yours."

"Secrets? I don't have any--"

He bent -- she'd forgotten how tall he was -- and murmured in her ear, "I saw what's in the drawer."

He straightened, eyes deliberately moving to the nightstand beside her bed. The top drawer was, indeed, open a crack.

She gasped, face going flaming hot, and reached over to slam it shut as if that would somehow make a difference. "You... I..."

He gave a surprisingly serene smile, waiting her out.

"Fine," she finally said through gritted teeth.

"Good," he said, nodding cordially. "We'll settle up the details later."

Details? she thought in alarm but before she could ask, he pulled on his mask once more.

"Though tell me," he said, eyes going red and voice distorting, "did you at least like what you saw?"

"Dr. Wells!" she exclaimed in a scandalized tone.

His laughter hung in the air long after he'd sped away.

[torentialtribute]

Two coaches set for final Six Nations showdown and Adam Beard aims for lucky No 13 in Grand Slam bid

So, this is it – the end of the road for another Six Nations

It's been a blast, right !? And still three matches to go. This week we have tales of beards, beers, and Beirnes ahead of the biggest game of the weekend: Wales v Ireland, and plenty more besides.

So before spring has sprung and it becomes less socially acceptable to wear daffodil hats (actually, when is it ever?), discuss where a chariot is best stuck, or indulge in the annual stereotype that is this Championship, let's go once more round the islands shall we? Scrum’s the Word will guide you through the final weekend.

     Joe Schmidt (L) and Warren Gatland (R) want to go to Six Nations for the final time

NEWS FROM ROUND THE NATIONS

GREATEST SCHMIDTS

In all the tear-stained tributes to Warren Gatland ahead of his last Six Nations match (with Wales, as he keeps jokingly reminding anyone) it might be Joe Schmidt's last game in this tournament too.

A shorter stint, but a Grand Slam (2018) and two other titles (2014; 2015) is pretty damn good in five seasons for World Rugby's coach of the year.

And when you look wider than the Six Nations he's sort of done it all.

Here are his win percentages against every team he's faced with:

100% – USA; Samoa; Romania; Japan; Italy; Fiji; Canada

86% – Scotland

83% – France

80% – Argentina

67% – Australia

60% – South Africa

50% – New Zealand

We've left two teams off there, though.

     Schmidt's record against most of the top nations – including New Zealand – is remarkable

So the only two teams he struggled against are those, and if Warren and Wales beat Ireland on Saturday the record between the sides since 2013 will read Played 8; Ireland 3; Wales 4; Draw 1.

And the greatest Schmidt will be quelled and statty Gatty will have done a number on another top coach.

TUILAGI TIME

It's good that Manu Tuilagi has re-signed with Leicester, and therefore will continue his England career.

If he had moved over the Channel to Racing 92 it would have been a real kick in the nuts for his club, who have backed him through thick and thin and nursed him back to health on countless occasions.

Now Tuilagi will complete his first full Six Nations ever, playing his fifth Championship match of the year against Scotland.

At 27 it would have been a great shame – and would leave a sour taste – if soon as he had returned he was off.

Short careers, big checks and all that, but it is nice to see there is some repayment from Tuilagi to those who have helped him get back here.

     Manu Tuilagi repaid Leicester's faith in him this week by Welford Road

FEEL THE BEIRNE

Tadhg Beirne could be the man to light a flame under the Welsh Grand Slam bit.

He's the turnover king with the most nicks at the breakdown in the European Champions Cup (13) for Munster, having moved from the Scarlets.

And in Wales last year he won 18 in that tournament, SEVEN more than the second-placed French Steyn.

So watch out for those Mr. Tickle arms causing havoc.

MMM, ZANON!

If Marco Zanon – the 21-year-old Italy center – scores in Rome on Saturday against France, and a commentator does not say the above …

LUCKY 13 FOR BEARD?

Adam's bearded wonder without a beard. The fresh-faced 23-year-old is STILL yet to lose for Wales yet.

Twelve Tests into his unbeaten Test career he's up for making it lucky 13 in the Grand Slam game against Ireland this Saturday.

"I never think of losing," he said this week.

"As soon as you are on a downward slope. Obviously you don't want to get too complacent, too up yourself, but if you keep your feet and ground and work hard and have a winning mentality you'll be alright.

'I have said this so many times, people are bigging up 12 from 12, but I am so lucky to be in a squad or 30-plus players where there is competition in each position.

'The determination and drive that everyone in this squad has got to get better every day and keep this run going is class.

'I have definitely never been in a squad with the feeling we have here. It’s a great feeling. "

     Wales second row Adam Beard is 12 Tests into his international career and is yet to lose

Beard – unlike Elliot Dee and Nicky Smith who have also won their last 12 Tests – has never lost for his country. So sealing a Slam in his first Six Nations clean would be pretty special.

And he's already got one up on his opposite number for the weekend; James Ryan.

Wales U20s won a Grand Slam in 2016 and in that season a team with the Irish lock as captain.

"I have got one up on him," said Beard. 'It would be nice to get a second. He's a great athlete and has come on leaps and bounds in the Test arena.

"It's been good to watch a guy of my age and see what could happen if I keep playing well, learning and developing. I'm looking forward to the challenge or facing him. "

Beard is growing into this quite nicely.

SCOTLAND THE… SMALL

Wee is a word they use, and we're going to horridly adopt it (sorry) to refer to Scotland's backline.

OK, it's not quite as mini as last week and it could have been put into starker contrast with England's giants if Joe Cokanasiga (6ft 4in, 18st 1lbs) had bone selected.

But if this was a boxing match the 'reach' category of the fighters would show a sizeable chasm.

Combined , the Scots are more than eight inches shorter than their English opponents – that's almost one of those big rulers – and seven stones lighter across the backs.

So the likes of Nick Grigg, Ali Price and Darcy Graham might be nippy, but they might also end up looking like Flat Stanley come full time as the English bulldozers c ome rolling towards.

     The likes of Scotland's Darcy Graham will come up against a huge England team on Saturday

BEFORE THE LORD MAYOR'S SHOW…

… Comes Italy v France.

Italy have got to win. And if they do, god help Jacques Brunel. He'll be sacked yesterday, surely?!

BRING ON THE BEERS

When we wrote a piece this week detailing the carnage that is set to unfold in Cardiff this Saturday for the Wales v Ireland game the information went mildly viral-like nits.

The best response to the article ( which you can read here ) came from Walkabout's social media account.

The Australian bar that we said would serve at least 11,500 pints on the day addressed to – full disclosure – a friend of Scrum's the Word (yes, it's not all stats, honest) who 'enjoyed the walkabout stat'.

Walkabout – who had to mop the ceiling of their bar on St Mary Street after Welsh fans threw their pints in the air after the England win (just drink 'em lads) – did too.

STATCAVE

4 away Six Nations wins on the spin for Ireland – a fifth in Wales would equal their best ever sequence in the Championship between 1928-30

9 defeats in 10 Tests away from home in the Six Nations for France, their only victory in that run coming from Italy in 2017.

0 – Wales have never lost a Grand Slam game in the Six Nations era. In fact, when they have won three matches they have always completed a sweep.

50th occasion Sergio Paris will captain Italy in the Six Nations. No other player has achieved that feat.

13 consecutive Test victories for Wales. If they win one more, beating Ireland on Saturday, they will run equal England's with Sir Clive Woodward between 2002-03. In the northern hemisphere only Eddie Jones ’2016-17 England side put together a longer unbeaten run – or 18 matches.

1983 – The last time Scotland won at Twickenham. Their 2018 win at Murrayfield ended a run of nine games without victory over England.

10 more tackles to be made by Tom Curry to make him the top tackling Englishman in a Six Nations season . Joe Launchbury made 85 in 2015 – Curry has made 76 in the first four rounds.

LOWEST-SCORING SLAM EVER?

If Wales score fewer than 20 points and just one try against Ireland they will complete a clean sweep with the fewest points scored and tries amassed in Six Nations history.

POINTS PER GRAND SLAM YEAR Slam year Team Points scored Tries 2002 France 156 15 2003 England 173 18 2004 France 144 14 2005 Wales 151 17 2008 Wales 148 13 2009 Ireland 121 12 2010 France 135 13 2012 Wales 109 10 2016 England 132 13 2018 Ireland 160 20 2019 Wales? 89 9

SIX NATIONS MATCH GUIDES

ITALY v FRANCE

Saturday 12.30pm Stadio Olimpico LIVE ITV from 12pm

ITALY : Hayward; Padovani, Zanon, Morisi, Esposito; Allan, Tebaldi; Lovotti, Ghiraldini, Pasquali, Sisi, Ruzza, Steyn, Polledri, Parisse.

Bench: Bigi, Traore, Ferrari, Zanni, Negri, Palazanni, McKinley, Sperandio.

FRANCE : Medard; Penaud, Bastareaud, Fofana, Huget; Ntamack, Dupont; Falgoux, Guirado, Bamba, Lambey, Willemse, Alldritt, Camara, Picamoles.

Bench: Chat, Priso, Aldegheri, Gabrillagues, Iturria, Serin, Lopez, Ramos.

Prediction: France.

[1945901] WALES v IRELAND

Saturday 2.45pm Murrayfield LIVE BBC One from 2pm

WALES : L Williams; North, J Davies, Parkes, Adams; Anscombe, G Davies; R Evans, Owens, Francis, AW Jones, Beard, Navidi, Tipuric, Moriarty. Bench: Dee, Smith, Lewis, Ball, Wainwright, A Davies, Biggar, Watkin.

IRELAND : Kearney; Earls, Ringrose, Aki, Stockdale; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Best, Furlong, Beirne, J Ryan, O'Mahony, O'Brien, Stander. Bench: Scannell, Kilcoyne, Porter, Roux, Conan, Marmion, Carty, Larmour.

Prediction: Wales.

ENGLAND v SCOTLAND

Saturday 5pm Twickenham LIVE ITV from 4.15pm

ENGLAND : Daly; Nowell, Slade, Tuilagi, May; Farrell, Youngs; Moon, George, Sinckler, Launchbury, Cross, Wilson, Curry, B. Vunipola.

Bench: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Cole, Shields, Hughes, Spencer, Ford, Te'o.

SCOTLAND : Maitland; Graham, Grigg, Johnson, McGuigan; Russell, Price; Dell, McInally, Nel, Toolis, Gilchrist, Skinner, Watson, Bradbury.

Bench: Brown, Reid, Berghan, J. Gray, Strauss, Laidlaw, Hastings, Harris.

Prediction: England

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[perfectthings-blog1]

Cross Country Skiing Is Great For Winter Fun And Fitness

The winter season of 2016-2017

is one of the best in current background for skiers as well as snowboarders in every significant destination area of the nation, with lots of snow, sometimes record amounts, in the Northeast, Rockies, Sierras, Northwest and also Southwest. All this snow is a blessing to those who enjoy worsening, however what if you do not ski or snowboard.

Winter i a gorgeous season, particularly when it snows, but for many, it disrupts their fitness and exercise routine. You can learn to appreciate the natural beauties of winter months as well as obtain a terrific exercise by attempting various other wintertime sporting activities that usually do not need the long drives/flights, significant expenditure, ample equipment, and also long discovering contour of alpine snowboarding and also snowboarding, The other day partly One I covered snowshoeing, perhaps the easiest winter months sport to jump into as a rookie. Today it's cross nation skiing, also welcoming for initial timers.

For entertainment purposes, there are 3 major versions of the sporting activity: skating, timeless, and backcountry.

Skating: This is the least preferred as well as many physical fitness oriented sector within cross country, normally done much more for a strenuous workout than a leisurely day in the woods. You could roughly compare it to the various other 2 segments as running is to treking.

The limiting aspect with skate snowboarding is that you generally require a groomed trail to do it on, and one that has actually been brushed specifically for skating, generally the width of a lane on a roadway, and these are not that usual - even several Nordic centers with substantial trail networks do not have them. Consequently, skate skiing is generally a self-selective sport, favoring those who live near an excellent place to do it.

For skating, you utilize shorter thin skis, and the activity is like the name recommends, similar to ice skating or inline skating, where you press off the side of the ski, with the leg as well as ski ended up for a V-shaped stride. It's a strategy that's harder to learn compared to the alternatives once you do you could get going rather fast.

Looking for skating equipment is rather simple, given that there is less of it readily available, it is less extensively sold, as well as stores that carry an option should be experienced adequate to assist you. Most experts recommend finding out classic strategy first as quicker entrance right into the sporting activity.

Timeless: This has actually long been the most popular section, though that is currently altering. It typically involves snowboarding with the ski in two identical tracks, recessed ports in the snow, the opposite of rails on a train track. There are hundreds of Nordic facilities around the nation, most offering leasings as well as lessons, typically with path systems and also maps showcasing novice, intermediate and skilled paths rated by color, similar to downhill ski resorts.

Actually, most major ski resorts also have actually connected Nordic centers (a few of the best are Sun Valley, ID; Beaver Creek, Carbon Monoxide; Stowe, VT; Whiteface, NY; Crested Butte, CO), as well as those that do not, have them around or nearby (Aspen, Carbon Monoxide; Jackson, WY; Winter Park, Carbon Monoxide; Park City, UT). You could additionally traditional ski on untracked surface.

Yesterday I kept in mind that snowshoeing is generally walking, and timeless skiing absolutely is not, yet because it entails our acquainted one arm forward, other leg back human stride, it's as close as you jump on skis, and also thus one of the most intuitive and most convenient to discover (if you have actually seen a Nordic track workout machine in use, that's the concept).

You can shuffle along similar to strolling, or you can easily discover the wanted kick and slide method where you take a "step," then glide your skis on the snow a short distance before switching over legs, a much more reliable, energetic, and aesthetically pleasing method of covering ground. Relying on your health and fitness level and also experience, you can go as slowly as you want, or really hustle.

You get a really good workout that's reduced influence (unless you drop) as well as while you can sprint, it's even more of an endurance sporting activity. I regularly go for at least 60 minutes but you could avoid for hours.

You are not always in the tracks

When you encounter steeper uphills, you might need to "herringbone," similar to the skating design, where you transform the skis out at an angle and walk up the slope in a V-shape to keep you from succumbing to gravity and moving in reverse.

Alternatively, going downhill, you will certainly frequently should create your skis into a wedge, or A-shape, as well as turn the skis on their inside side in order to utilize the increased area and edge hold to slow you down.

There are in-between instances where you may maintain one ski in the shelf as well as turn out the various other for control. Towering snowboarding experience could benefit those dealing with significant downhills, however, for beginners, long steep descents ought to be stayed clear of.

There are two styles of traditional skis.

The whole sport depend upon that you can move forward over the snow, however if the ski glides excessive, you have no traction and also absolutely nothing to push off with as well as it can reverse as conveniently as forwards. You likewise require this rearward traction to climb up hills.

Once upon a time all skis were smooth on the bottom, and the glide characteristic came from applying wax each time you headed out, with different waxes for various temperatures and snow conditions. There are still waxed skis today, and also some experts favor them, but also for the objectives of this column forget about them as well as go waxless. Waxless skis have actually come to be the norm, and include a distinctive pattern on the base, commonly called "fishscales," set up in an overlapping way to lessen resistance progressing as well as optimize it removaling backwards.

Patterns and products have actually just gotten better and also much better, as well as if you are not racing, you can go plenty quickly enough with raised control as well as have a simpler knowing process - without dealing with wax. Traditional skis are narrow as well as the length for you depends on your weight, while the version, size as well as flex is based on ability, with stiffer, narrower skis for much better skiers.

Numerous significant towering ski suppliers such as Rossignol, Fischer, Atomic as well as Salomon make them, as do Nordic ski professionals like Alpina, Karhu, and Madshus.

However the best choice for newbies (and numerous others) could well be the more recent crossbreed models, developed like backcountry skis (see below) but slim sufficient to fit timeless tracks. These provide a finest of both globe's approach, giving you a lot more control on ascents as well as descents as well as permitting you to go off the ruined path as well as ski where there are no tracks, from golf links to rail tracks to city parks to woodland.

Backcountry cross nation skis are wider as well as have actually honed metal sides like alpine skis. They come in a variety of sizes, with larger models intended for deeper snow, rougher terrain as well as even more tough off route use, yet typically the best you can buy and also still make use of in tracks has to do with 62 cm.

After checking out a number of stores,

talking to staffers, and reviewing evaluations, I simply purchased a brand-new pair for Fischer Crawler 62 skis for this period and have already used them numerous times as well as enjoy them. They have a full steel side that assists control descents and also a fishscale pattern that gives terrific grip rising but still permits the ski to move well. They are broad sufficient to make use of in unbroken snow for modest off trail adventures.

Theoretically, the tradeoff of this type of ski for traditional tracks is that it goes slower compared to a narrower design, however once again, unless you race it's quick sufficient. My friends and I who head out typically on Vermont's tracked tracks happily use absolutely nothing else.

Cross country ski boots look like treking boots, with classic designs being lighter, softer as well as much less rigid, and also those created for backcountry usage being much more tough, like heavy duty backpacking boots, while those made for the hybrid backcountry design that fit in tracks drop in between, with more assistance as well as rigidness yet still lighter.

I recommend searching for designs with a zip up, built in gaiter that covers the tongue and also shoelaces, and insulation if you are prone to cold feet. When I updated skis this period, I additionally purchased a new set of women details Rossignol BC H6W boots, after trying out a number of ladies's versions, with Thinsulate insulation, as well as have actually been extremely delighted with them. They additionally come in a less aggressive as well as uninsulated lower priced variation.

Nordic skis come in a large range of cost factors, yet plans brushing skis, bindings, poles and boots are always marked down versus getting separately, and this time around of year (mid-winter right into springtime) everything takes place sale to remove this year's versions.

It is entirely affordable to obtain a beginner's package for just $300, with great deals of options in the $300-400 range. Higher efficiency and also crossbreed backcountry-style classic bundles could be had for $400-500.

Backcountry: True backcountry versions are for making your personal path, snowboarding snow that has not been tracked and also checking out. That's a wonderful point to do, but it's not what I would recommend as a beginning point for newbies.

If you start with a larger metal bordered ski that fits in a track as defined over, as well as get acquainted with the sporting activity, you could still take it off route, and if in a wintertime or 2 you decide to go hardcore and additional afield, simply obtain a larger ski for that function. -