#i let it have my iteration as a treat :P

[daedelweiss]

have i come up with a name for this iteration yet? IDK i'm still deciding 😂 but here's a fully colored height chart of my teetls and april! they're different species of turtles because wHY NOT

raph is a philippine forest turtle, donnie is a japanese pond turtle, leo is a red eared slider (because the red marks are cool oKAY), and mikey's an indochinese box turtle ❤️💜💙🧡 both donnie and raph still feel a bit weird about being turtles which is why they cover up the most. in case you don't know, they were all human and splinter and his husband's children but one night, they got cursed and mutated, their father mysteriously disappearing after the mutation and keaving splinter to raise them on his own. donnie and raph (who are twins) were 5, mikey was 3, leo was 2.

atm, donnie and raph are 16, mikey is 14, leo is 13, and april is 12. april is their adopted sister who they found 2 years after they mutated. she goes to school like a normal girl but can't reveal her family 💛

i already have a bit of lore stacked up for them but i won't make a full on series for them (at least not yet 😅). most likely scenario is i make a fanfic about them 😛 this is just a lil side project 😅 not going to go full out on this, at least as long as life mission is going on.

hope you guys like my little literation! 💖

•

( 🌿 please do NOT repost, edit, trace, use, and/or sell 🌿 )

[solarcitymelodies]

You said you wanted to talk about ventriloquism?

Tell me more?

It took me so long to get to this I'm so sorry 😭 low on spoons, you know how it is

But yes, I LOVE ventriloquism, and I talk about it semi frequently here in my corner of the internet ... I'm not even sure where to start just cuz there's SO much, but this post I made a bit ago with a focus on our bonds with our puppets is a good start :)

Other than that, I've left quite a lengthy beginners guide under the cut, so I hope you enjoy!

So, here's where we start. This here:

Is a headless Jerry Mahoney. I show you this mildly uncomfortable image so you can see the most important piece of equipment in ventriloquism: the headstick! Or control stick, some people call it that too. This has a bunch of different levers on it that control different parts of the face, but more rudimentary ones will just have one lever for the mouth. Which is really all you need honestly. (Anything else costs a pretty penny. Like, an especially pretty one.) The lever being pulled on Jerry here is the only important one, and that's the one that controls his mouth.

You can see a bunch of those controls here:

This isn't the only kind of ventriloquist dummy, but it's definitely the most well known iteration. There's been a huge rise in felt puppets recently, and there's also been pull-string ones around for quite a while (which are far less intricately built than other dummies, but pretty sweet for beginners. I only own string-pulls and i love them very much. ♡)

As for actually doing ventriloquism, there's a few tips I have that I tell anyone interested.

1. Ventriloquism is easy. It is so easy. It's learning how to make it convincing that's hard!

2. And in that same vein, it doesn't matter that much how convincing you are as long as you and the audience are having fun! I always get tired of people treating what's basically playing with dolls but ✨️fancy✨️ like an Olympic sport lol.

3. Letter substitutes are whatever you can get away with. Cut corners. Change your vocabulary. Whatever works to make yourself sound more natural is what you should be doing! Remember, it's not cheating if it works.

4. If you aren't a little weird about the puppets please consider getting weirder. It is a tradition we hold very dear to us.

Now, as far as the basics go-- like I said, it's not too terribly difficult.

First and foremost, there's a certain "standing position" your mouth should rest in, which sounds very silly but it's true. Your lips should be slightly parted, enough to let air out but not enough to be super noticeable. You can't actually talk with your mouth fully closed, but it should look closed from a distance. This is one of our tricks of illusion >:3

Your tongue should always be behind your teeth, usually resting against them a bit in my experience. Your teeth are going to be acting as your new lips. That sounds insane but it'll make sense the more you do it. When you'd usually use your lips to pronounce a word, you use your teeth. ALWAYS keep your teeth resting in a mostly closed position!! This is so people don't see your tongue moving!! Learned this the hard way lol.

There are a few letters you have to watch out for: B, F, M, P, V, and W. Some of these are easier for other people and some are harder, but these are the well known ones, plus ones I have trouble with (granted I do have speech issues as is, sooo... take with a grain of salt?)

These letters are evil and cursed and don't like to be pronounced without moving your lips, which is where we introduce letter substitutes. Generally,

B = D (or G)

F = more of an S sound, like a hiss

M = N

P = T

V = a sound closer to Z

W turns into the wretched "duddayoo." I do not like this one.

I'm not that great at explaining the basics to be honest, but there's lot of great tutorial videos out there, I'd recommending doing s little dive into those if you're genuinely interested. For now here's one from Darci Lynne because I love her.

The best thing to do though, if you dont want to do the actual acting thing? Get active in the community anyways. Get your friends into it. Talk about it! Post about it! Ventriloquism has been, famously, dying as far as most people are concerned for a long while now, and we really need younger people to step up and keep this art alive. Just appreciating it and supporting from the sidelines is a huge help. As much of a loser as this makes me sound, please for the love of God make ventriloquism look cool. It sounds goofy but we really do genuinely need it.

As a final note:

Ventriloquism at its core, I believe, at least, shouldn't be competitive. There are a lot of people in the community that just take it way too seriously and frankly, it is so lame. Ventriloquism should be fun. It's odd and it's kooky and it should be accessible to everyone no matter how good they are at keeping their lips still. A lot of the best ventriloquists famously could not keep their mouths shut. And I mean that as literally as possible. They were still beloved by many and are greatly cherished figures in our community.

If you ever doubt yourself, remember: Lambchop was only a sock before Shari Lewis made her come to life. You don't need the best materials, or the best technique; all you need is passion and a good routine.

[corvidcorgi]

My biggest Neverafter takeaway after this week’s episode is the crystallization of a question that I’ve been rolling around in my head for weeks. And it’s this: why is Elody with the princesses? What makes their goal personal for her? What does she have in common with them?

Like—yes, she is legally a princess. That’s her royal title. But for every other princess in the coalition, they’re fighting because in every world, in every universe, in every iteration, their stories chew them up and spit them out and tell them your pain is inescapable. Every retelling is predicated on them being cursed and hurt and disempowered. In the same way that the Stepmother has to be evil, the princesses have to be victims in order for their “true” story to play out. But Elody isn’t.

And it’s interesting that La Bête is there too, because the Beast isn’t traditionally the princess of that story. The princess is Beauty… but unlike the Daughters of the Crown (minus Elody), Beauty does get agency in some capacity—trading herself for her father’s safety and freedom is a choice, even if it’s a terrible one. So Beauty’s the princess, but the Beast is the one who’s been cursed.

Now, “princess” is an inherently gendered term. It’s a legal title that one can get through birth (Elody, Snow White, Mira, Rosamund) or marriage (Cinderella, Rapunzel). And yes, genderbending the Beast, a character who’s traditionally a prince by birth, does technically make that character into a princess. And yes, Monster Princess rocks.

But I would argue that by including La Bête amongst the Daughters of the Crown rather than Beauty, Brennan is also making a really clear distinction: even if “princess” (lowercase-p) is a title one can hold, “Princess” (capital-P) is a narrative role, one that’s subject to unjust victimhood because that’s what the story requires. A narrative Princess is someone who was abused, or hunted, or trapped, or cursed, or otherwise denied agency, and a narrative Prince is the one who saves them. And even if there’s some in-story explanation for why they're hurt like this (maybe La Bête offended a fairy, who knows), it’s never enough to justify the pain and disenfranchisement a Princess goes through.

But Elody didn’t go through that. Her life sucked—parents dead, steward of a country by her teenage years, forced to lead her country into war—but her story treats her just fine. There is no iteration of The Frog Prince where Elody is the victim. So why does she want to rewrite it? Why does she want to unmake it? What makes this personal for her?

Who got hurt?

Elody may be a princess, but she isn’t a Princess. She’s the Prince of her story. And she found her Princess lying dead in the mud, fallen in battle, and immediately joined a group of people who said they were never going to let this happen to anyone ever again.

[nekomacbeth]

Book emoji

ok so. original plot that i have been pingponging in my head within the last few days under the cut bc it is kinda long

(context for it: i was initially planning on this being a dungeoncrawl in like dnd or something but i haven’t developed the idea much yet AND i have another iteration of the tower thing i have done more work on feat. a late 1200s trouveresse)

Once upon a time there was a tower within a dream, all covered in vines and red roses. A couple of adventurers enter it, deciding to stake their lives either for fortune or to determine what is up with it. Unfortunately for them, it is filled to the brim with hostile creatures (think manuscript drolleries and grotesques), all of which have one thing in common: their hearts are pierced through with a rose vine. Through items like scraps of songs, and various fixtures like gardens and fountains, the adventurers get the impression that this place and its inhabitants used to be formerly peaceful, but has been morphed so much that it has now become unrecognizable from what it once was. Each floor, in addition, seemed to be themed around different ways to torture a heart- stabbing, burning, branding, you get the gist. The enemies on each floor would have corresponded to each of the various methods as well. See also, this woodcut from Master Casper of Regensburg (which is where i intended to derive each floor’s theme from):

(anyway, if you know who this woodcut is depicting, you already get instant spoilers as to who’s the boss of this whole shebang. but if you don’t, read on!)

During their journey, the adventurers felt as if something- or someone- wanted them gone from this place, as if to say ‘this is not your affair, you should not be interfering.’ From scattered notes to ominous messages written in what looked like blood (or was it just crushed petals, or were the adventurers’ eyes deceiving them?), they knew one thing for sure- whoever turned this place wants to be left alone.

After their arduous journey through the various levels of the tower, the adventurers finally arrive at the top floor. The top floor consists of only one solitary room- but it is covered in thorny rose vines from ceiling to floor. In the centre of the room stands a bed, upon which lies a minnesanger. Unlike the other inhabitants of this tower, his heart has not been pierced through- but he is bound to the bed by the multitude of thorny vines that permeate the room. He can speak, however, and weakly tells the adventurers to be wary of a certain ‘Frau Minne’.

At this point I have to admit I have no concrete idea how the main boss of the tower manifests herself to the adventurers yet, but when she appears, she derides the minnesanger and then turns to face the adventurers. If asked if she is ‘Frau Minne’, she would respond: “Frau Minne? Ha! In his dreams. I, as far as I know, am just an ordinary woman- not a goddess of love.”

The situation is explained thusly to the adventurers- the minnesanger had a lady he idolized in the name of courtly love, and that was her. In his song and in his words, he set her upon a pedestal and even figured her as Frau Minne in one of his works. Even as a reflection of her in his mind, she hated every second of it- why wasn’t she allowed to just be let alone? But day after day, night after night, she had to appear in his dreams and silently play the part of the harsh beloved, the goddess of love, and whatever else he wanted her to be. However, in the world of dreams, she found herself gaining more and more control over his mind, and ultimately decided to use her newfound power to her own benefit- to turn the once idyllic dream-tower into agony for the minnesanger. And now, she keeps his mind and heart hostage within the dream-tower as revenge for how he once treated her.

“If you want to stop this, then you should be taking it up with him, not me. Tell him to let me go and live in peace, and I’ll let go of him.”

of course, the ending would ideally be up to the players to negotiate (and if they just let her do what she wants all the more power to them honestly) and so i don’t have a concrete ending for it yet. but that’s essentially what happens when i go too deep into looking up frau minne imagery and getting lowkey obsessed with her

[pruning-the-minds-garden]

Hypno Asks 1, 3, and 9.

1. How long have you been into hypnosis? Oh, that depends on what you mean by the question of course. I've been actively interested in it as a sexual kink since about... 2005, 2006? College, in any case. Back then I was only browsing Literotica, though. It took until much later, probably 2012 or so, for me to start actively taking part in the hypnokink community in any way, shape or form. I had a blog on here called "nipnotizingerotica" for a little while, which was very not great. Or, at least, very not me. It represented my first foray into the community. After that is when I made the first iteration of Pruning the Mind's Garden. I deleted that blog a year or so ago, and then remade it in this version a few months ago. And, that's where I'm at now. That's more than you asked for, but yeah. :P 3. Are there any TV shows/movies/books you liked when you were younger that you think got you into hypnosis? Oh lord yes. The big one is "X-Men: The Animated Series" and the "Batman" cartoons around the same time. Poison Ivy, Emma Frost, Jean Grey (esp. as Dark Phoenix), Prof. X, Mysterio, The Riddler.... yeah. Say what you will about some of those being over-the-top cheesy, and they were, but some were also way hotter than they had any right to be. 9. How do you feel when you hypnotise someone else?

It depends. There is not one "way" I feel, but often I feel a rush of power from it. I feel trust, control, and I also feel gratitude. Like, they have placed their cerebrum in my hands, trusting me to do something really great with it, to treat it with care. Even if they have told me that they consent to me completely fucking up their mind, they know - because they contacted me, after all! - that I'm not going to do that, because ultimately I don't consent to doing that. So, I know that they trust me not to. And, when they drop, when they let go, when their eyes flutter or I hear their voice sigh and let go or their spelling shifts or their responses change... I know I have them. I've become pretty good by now at spotting role-play, and though I never let on that I've spotted it (that's just rude), I do know, and when someone genuinely lets go I know that too. The feeling in me when they do, the trust invested in me by their doing so... there's nothing quite like it.

I know I wax emotional and poetic about that and for some people dropping into trance is easy as pie and they do it for any/everybody. I get that. But, I still am thankful for it when it happens and I still think it's something special. It might not be special for them or something that only happens for me (in fact I am certain of the latter, lol), but that doesn't mean it stops being special for me.

++++++++++

From "Hypnosis Ask Game"

[pondering-and-wondering]

Solar Eclipse Part Two

A Spider-Man Fanfiction

Previous Part

Platonic!Doc Ock X Peter Parker X Reader

Summary: Peter Parker is your Best Friend and your mom is a nuclear fusion scientist who works closely with Doctor Otto Octavius.

Author’s Note: Here is part two!! I can not thank @dreaminrubies enough for being the best person to bounce ideas off of and inspiring this whole series. I just have a few more things to note.

1)I tried my best to keep things gender neutral and keep descriptions relatively vague so please tell me what I can improve on in that regard.

2)Personally, I envision Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker while writing, but I think any iteration of Peter could fit so I decided against keeping it specific. and please enjoy!

“So you’re still on for dinner tonight?” 

You had sent the text just a few seconds ago, being met with a response from Pete almost instantaneously. 

“Heck yeah!! You know I can’t resist a home-cooked meal kitchen wizard”

“Don’t be stubborn and take a ride home from my mom please you know she loves you”

“Yes she does but I’ll only accept if she asks”

“You know she will”

“Yeah yeah see you soon :P”

With that you put down your phone, getting ready to cook dinner. With your mom always working late in the lab, you had gotten used to being the one who cooked dinner for the both of you. Cooking was your favorite art. It was one of the most important ways you could express your love and appreciation for your mother. 

It was even better when you were cooking for Peter too. He always had seconds and you were more than happy to provide.

Putting your playlist on you started to cook a simple pasta dish, your mom’s favorite. She needed good luck for tomorrow, with her being gone in the lab until the early morning hours for the past few weeks you knew she was stressed. When you’d see her in passing she seemed tired. A smile always decorated her face, but the lines under her eyes couldn't lie. She loved your cooking though, and you were confident just a bite could make her smile. 

You wiggled your hips to the music, stirring the sauce in time and belting your heart out. Too engrossed to notice Peter and your mother watching you with their thing in tow. They let you get halfway through the next power ballad before interrupting you.

“Hey Superstar, how’s dinner coming?” came a familiar feminine voice. You whipped yourself around, aiming the sauce-covered spoon in their direction before bursting into laughter, “You guys can’t scare me like that!! How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to have blackmail, and careful, you're holding a weapon there” Peter teased, moving towards you and disarming you, taking a taste of the sauce. “Wow that’s killer as usual” he teased. Your mother just laughed and walked across the room to put her bags down. 

“I have to make it good for mama!! And you too if you’re here I guess” you teased right back. You snatched the spoon back and added the pasta, stirring it all together. Your mother wrapped her arms around you and kissed the top of your head. “Thank you my darling, always thinking of me.”

“ Love you too mama, now go sit! Dinner is almost done and you need to get to bed early” you laughed, leaning into her. 

“I could only disarm ‘em for a minute there Doc! I think you should listen so you don’t get spooned” teased Peter, getting out some plates for the three of you. “And I cannot thank you enough for picking me up and letting me come over all the time.” He was just as earnest as he was playful at times. He treated your mother with the same respect he had for any Oscorp scientist, and maybe some more. She took him in anytime he was being roughhoused or even if he just needed a break from his aunt. She genuinely loved him, she spent a few weeks trying to convince you to marry him. Her home was him home and you felt the same way. 

You gently shook off your mom, just enough to serve up the plates and bring them to the table. “Please, if she could leave me and keep you she would”

“Oh now be quiet you know I would never, but I would keep him if he let me” she laughed, sitting at the table. Peter sat down across from where you always sat, his unassigned assigned seat, wiggling his shoulders as you served him.

“Bone Apple Teeth or whatever they say” he jokes, causing your mother to laugh profusely.

“Hey, that is not fair! He always does this, he steals the internet jokes and plays them off as his!” you exclaimed, your mother just shook her head.

“He makes me laugh, that’s what’s important” she beamed looking between the two of you. “If it is possible, I think I want to ask the two of you to come to the presentation tomorrow. We’ve worked so hard on this… and you've been my biggest cheerleaders outside of the lab. I think it would be nice for you both to witness a piece of history. We’re changing the world my loves.”

That immediately brought a huge smile to your face. “Of course mom, you don’t even have to ask.” You were going to be there for her, no questions asked. You looked over to Peter, who looked equally as excited.

“For damn sure I’ll be there! I mean, Doctor Connors has been talking about it a lot, and then I got to talk to Doctor Octavius a few days ago and you guys sound way super confident so yeah… I’ll be there” Peter grinned, taking a forkful of pasta and taking a big bite. He closed his eyes with a soft, satisfied hum “ I really don’t know how you make it so good every time.”

You responded with a shrug of your shoulders “It’s my superpower, very useful for the two of you. Plus there is still lots for seconds or thirds and even lunch tomorrow just so you can get sick of it.” 

“Like I said, always thinking of us,” your mother said with fondness. You felt your face warm and gave another shrug, eating in comfortable silence. You always knew the sign of a great meal was when no one talked, they were too invested in eating. Maybe getting Peter Parker to shut up was your real superpower. 

You continued to enjoy your evening with them, eventually finishing up and washing the dishes. You sat and talked for a while, the evening coming to a natural close.

“Alrighty, then if I am going to be on time tomorrow I’ve got to catch the train home, you know I’m not too far” Peter sighed, standing up and hugging your mom before coming over to you, putting his hands on your shoulders.

“If you must, just text me when you get home? And tell May I said hi too” you grinned up at him, rocking back and forth on your heels. As you were leaning back he quickly pulled you in for a tight hug.

“Anything you say, you’ll get a text from me very soon and you’ll see me tomorrow, that sound good to you?” he teased. You wrapped your arms around him and gave him a tight squeeze, nodding your head against him. With that he let go of you, giving you a cheeky wink before heading out for the night. Your mother walked up behind you and rubbed your shoulder fondly.

“Are you sure you don’t want to marry him?”

Next Part

[mywingsareonwheels]

Qualities that make a good Captain America:-

- experience of being heavily marginalised, both in general and specifically within US American systems of power and bigotry and image.

- extremely compassionate and with a profound sense of justice.

- “oh look! a problem! it is clearly my responsibility to fix this.”

-  ornery as fuck, not great at taking orders, completely willing to be break the rules in order to do the right thing.

- complete absence of xenophobia, healthy scepticism about the US and its role in the world.

- excellent at public speaking, naturally good at earning loyalty.

This is why Steve (disabled, working-class, Irish immigrant family) and Sam (Black, working-class) both make perfect Captains America, in their different ways. It’s why Isaiah Bradley would have been incredible.

It’s also why John Walker (middle-class, white, abled, uncomplicatedly patriotic, “perfect soldier”) is just fricking useless at it, and starts a rapid moral deterioration.

[oh dear, this got long! behind the cut for more. CW: tfatws episode 6 spoilers, discussion of racism, classism, ableism, anti-Irish sentiments, probable anti-Catholicism.]

It’s also what the US establishment completely miss, why they treat Steve and Sam so differently, and why the nature of Bucky’s support (circa tfatws episode 6 in the case of Sam) matters.

The US establishment don’t want a marginalised Captain America. But everything that’s marginalised about Steve can be made neatly invisible for propaganda purposes. The serum makes him able-bodied. I believe I’m right in saying that his accent shifts over the course of the fundraising tour, as he’s pushed into speaking with more of a Standard American rather than a working-class Brooklyn accent. His dog-tags bear a “P”, even though the chances are that Sarah Rogers at least was Catholic. And then what’s left? He’s white, blond-haired, blue-eyed, super-strong. He passes as a WASP and is even assumed by some IRL reviewers and fandom commentators to be one. His image as Cap is that of precisely the kind of all-American hero that he isn’t. He benefits extremely from his white privilege (especially when contrasted with the horror of what happened to Isaiah, but in any number of other ways too), and I love tfatws for talking about that. He also benefits from the falsified Captain America image, even though he doesn’t choose to. But he also clearly feels the strain of having his own personhood and own past and his own agency lost in the noise - the classic dilemma, in fact, of someone invisibly marginalised. And the establishment is shocked - shocked! - when in the 21st century he keeps putting what’s right ahead of what’s superficially patriotic, even though anyone who knows him well would have known that’s precisely what he would do.

And after that first, public, “let’s hear it for Captain America!”, he’s always Steve to Bucky. And it’s their friendship, their love, their shared history, not any iteration of him as Captain America, that calls Bucky back out of the Winter Soldier. AFAIK, Bucky never calls him Cap. Whenever he’s able to do so, he’s about reminding Steve that he is Steve, because that’s what’s most needed.

But Sam’s Black. There’s nothing deniable or elidable about his marginalisation, or of the bigotry of the US establishment that still doesn’t want a Captain America who’s marginalised in any way, let alone who is Black. And not only that, Sam’s a good deal older than Steve was in 1943 (and I’m assuming than Isaiah was in the 1950s), so he’s even less easy for the government and army to manipulate, and even more politicised and informed by his own experiences. So they go straight into being oh-so relieved and appreciative that he gave up the shield, and they choose John Walker because he is everything they think Steve Rogers was and everything about him that mattered and they are completely, disastrously wrong. And then presumably when they want the shield back after discharging Walker it’s to give it to another privileged, able-bodied, middle-class, blond-haired-blue-eyed white soldier. Not even someone marginalised in the ways Steve was, let alone in the ways Sam is.

Sam’s hesitance over keeping and using the shield is so important (as is Bucky’s apology to him for the pressure he puts on him over it), but once he does choose to keep it, he takes a gorgeous and justified pride in calling himself Captain America, even while explicitly and thoughtfully recognising the contradictions inherent in his position.

And Bucky calls him Cap, and they both grin infectiously. :-)

Here’s another problem: some of the MCU writers (and I think some of the Marvel comics writers too) fall into the exact same trap as the US establishment they’ve written. They look at Steve Rogers and they see Captain America. They de-emphasise his disabled and working-class and Irish immigrant background (in the Depression, in an era in which eugenicist attitudes in the US actively inspired the Nazis, and in which “no Irish” was a sign up all over both the US and the UK), his left-wing politics, and the fact that both his creators in the real world, and the in-universe creator of the serum, were Jewish. As was the comics character (Arnie Roth) whose backstory influenced the MCU version of Bucky. ISTR that even one of the writers on The First Avenger referred to Steve as “small-town” and... [points at Brooklyn, facepalms]. And (thanks to both my partner and some awesome people in a lovely Discord I belong to for this thought!) Endgame gave him an ending for the establishment stereotype of Captain America. Not one for Steve Rogers.

They’d bloody well do better by Sam.

[random-french-girl]

Could you possibly do a goodfoe/shoni brotp? Thank you!!

Hi Anon!

Sorry it took me so long to do this! Since Toni and Shelby are canonically... not just friends, I’m gonna answer this brotp meme with some romantic stuff, obviously. Here you go!

What in-jokes do they have with each other?

There MUST be an inside joke involving lychees. When they all live together post canon and Shelby adds “lychees :P” to their grocery list on the fridge every time it’s Toni’s turn to go grocery shopping... the first time Toni takes a pic and sends it to the group chat with like eye emoji + fire emoji because she wants everyone to know she’s gonna get laid tonight but all that happens is that the other girls reply with various iteration of “oh you’re going to the store? can you pick up some chips” and “dont forget the milk”. Very disappointing. 

Are they the “I’ll pay this time if you pay next time”-type friends, or the “I’ll pay for my food and you’ll pay for yours”-type friends?

Oh they’re gonna fight about who pays Every Single Time, methinks. It’s not serious though, they’re just both stubborn and wanna treat their gf. Unless Toni’s like: “You should pay, actually. Hashtag reparations.”

Who’s more prone to pranking, or otherwise messing with, the other?

Shelby, 100%. Toni loves it.

How do they text/message each other? Proper punctuation and capital letters, egregious overuse of emojis, mostly in meme format…?

Lots of emojis (hearts... hearts everywhere...). Toni definitely sends memes. 

Do they exchange jokey birthday presents, or deeply thought-out and meaningful presents? Or both?

Thoughtful, probably? Although I don’t know if either of them are super gift-oriented. 

They go on a road trip together. Who drives, who picks the music, who’s in charge of snacks?

Shelby drives. Toni picks the music (non negotiable, she’s never giving that much power to Shelby ever again, she still has nightmares about having to listen to christian rock). They both pick snacks thinking of what the other would want most, so they end up with their favorite snacks even if they didn’t buy them themselves :’)

What do they think of each other’s family?

OH BOY. Toni thinks they’re the worst kind of homophobic & racist white christians, full offense :) Shelby’s probably... very protective of Toni when it comes to her mom, but also very supportive if Toni wants to reconnect with her? 

Do they have any nicknames for each other?

I guess “princess”, but only if Toni is angry at her, so I’m not sure that counts. Shelby starts calling her “baby” after like, a year of dating, which makes Toni’s brain explode. Martha thinks it’s both adorable and hilarious. 

Who’d be the first to try and patch things up if they had a fight?

Toni! 

One of their phones goes off in the middle of the night. Who’s calling whom, and why?

Toni would call her without regards for Shelby’s sleep schedule, yes. It’s because she loves their talks, and she misses her :’)

What’s their favourite funny story about something that happened to the two of them?

Hmmm. Toni probably LOVES telling the story of their first kiss. (”She couldn’t resist my raw sex appeal any longer...” “Toni, that’s not how it happened at all.”)

Would they do a joint cosplay? If so, who would they dress up as?

Oh, I can see Shelby convincing Toni to do a couple costume for Halloween, but only if Toni gets to look Really Cool. Cue Fatin taking pictures of them like the mom in Mean Girls. 

Do they have any TV shows that they watch together? Are there any shows they have wildly different opinions on?

Toni tries to get Shelby to watch detective/mystery shows with her, which doesn’t work. Shelby likes teen shows, but Toni’s not a fan of the drama. Eventually, Martha tells them to try Planet Earth and they love it! Very relaxing, ideal for cuddling, and they both love animals. 

Which one is the “fight me” friend and which one is the one who tries to keep the peace and prevent their friend from punching a total stranger?

Toni is the fight me one. Shelby is very good at keeping the peace, but also will not hesitate to cut a bitch if necessary - and she’s much more terrifying than Toni when it comes to it.

One of them comes up with an ill-advised but mostly harmless idea. Does the other one egg them on because they think it’ll be funny, or try and talk them out of it?

Shelby tries to talk Toni out of ill-advised ideas. With only mixed success. 

Who would win if they arm-wrestled?

Shelby, but only because Toni lets her win every time.

Who’s better at what type of video games, and how competitive are they when they play together?

Toni’s better, because she has a bit more experience. They’re actually VERY competitive. It’s insufferable to play with them.

One of them ends up in hospital for something serious but not life-threatening. What does the other bring along when they visit in order to cheer them up?

Shelby brings Toni so much chocolate. And candy. 

How huggy are they?

They both love hugs! Very physically affectionate in general, once they are fully comfortable with each other.

What was the moment when they first realized that they’d become friends?

Hmm. Complicated question in canon, tbh. I think Toni probably realizes there’s more to Shelby than what she thought in episode 7 - that’s when she makes an effort to be nice and comfort Shelby after Leah goes on her lil rant. This might also be the moment for Shelby, actually? It’s their first real conversation after all, the first time they actually connect and share stuff about themselves. 

[toushindai]

sometimes a fic you’re very proud of gets unceremoniously booted out of canon compliance by something that........ really does not earn the right to evict your fic from canon compliance, and your only recourse is to

Decide that in your own headcanon, what you must begrudgingly call the “canon scene” was merely a dream, and

Remind yourself why you wrote what you wrote.

Anyway I still love “The Diamond” because it does a lot of character work that I really wanted to see done, and although no one asked I’m gonna talk a little bit this is fifteen hundred words long so a lot bit actually about that out of a combination of sincere enthusiasm and very poorly hidden spite.

Within twenty-four hours of completing the Meg route and learning that both relationships were fully above-board, I concluded that Zagreus would want a threesome, and shortly thereafter I concluded that if he got one, it would be a disaster. I’m speaking literally, this is not an exaggeration. Within forty-eight hours I had a rough outline of what would become “The Diamond” written up, and the structure of the encounter is basically what it is in the final draft: Zag suggests it, Meg and Than are less enthused but decide to go along with it, Than is persistently awkward about the experience that Zagreus and Megaera seem to have with navigating each other, though he makes a gallant effort anyway which is interrupted by a reminder that Meg is still there, watching all of this, and the encounter falls apart.

As I began to flesh the idea out, I really became interested in exploring just... a number of different complications, a number of different tensions that to tell the truth I had expected to be present in the relationships based on the antagonism displayed by both Meg and Than early on. It’s clear that, canonically, they sorted out their differences somewhere out of Zag’s sight. And I have no objection to this, really. But “The Diamond” became about forcing the two of them to face their permissiveness towards the other relationship in close quarters, and to experience tension and discomfort that they may have shrugged off originally. They are each different things to Zagreus—this is a canon line, I just wanna emphasize that that’s a canon line, not something I came up with in a dream once—and in “Diamond,” I wanted to bump those two things up against each other and have them clash in ways that were awkward for everyone involved. Not wrong, not even unnavigable in the end, but awkward in a way that should be faced rather than looked away from. Thanatos, not just an uncomfortable outsider to the D/s dynamics that are so natural and inherent to Megaera’s relationship with Zagreus, but also watching the two of them follow familiar steps and feeling inadequate compared to how well they know each other. Megaera deciding that she is best suited to lead the encounter but in the process of giving Than space to play along shunting herself off into a corner, from where she feels awkwardly left out, and in her attempt to reintegrate herself into the scene by trying to take charge as comes naturally to her, shattering the entire encounter. Because the fic was strictly from Thanatos’s POV, I didn’t get to highlight this quite commeasurately to how strongly I felt it, but both Meg and Than saw glimpses of the shape of the other relationship and wondered, is that something Zagreus needs? Is that something he can’t get from me, does that make my relationship with him lesser? I saw a failed threesome as a perfect encounter to force them to have these thoughts.

(The answer to these questions is of course that neither relationship is lesser; they’re just wildly different, and for Zagreus, with his heart so full of love that it constantly overflows, to have both is beneficial to all involved. Maybe more strictly canonical iterations of the characters can understand that more easily, without having to question it. But where’s the fun in that? I want to see them working through it.)

The other big tension I wanted to put these characters through is... eh, it’s a combination of communication and respect issues. Like I’ve said and will keep saying, it’s pretty cute that Meg and Than sorted themselves out, and certainly that’s preferable to either relationship being secret or even just having to clear surprise polyamory with them after the fact, but at the same time... it is a little weird to me that Zagreus was excluded from the conversation. And so “Diamond” became about how Megaera and Thanatos think about Zagreus, and how they need to do better about that. Zagreus thinks, sincerely, that this will be great fun for everyone involved!. Neither Megaera nor Thanatos agrees, but how is Zagreus supposed to know that when they gripe amongst themselves and agree to go along with it? He gives Thanatos really a number of opportunities to back out, but Thanatos just grits his teeth and treats it as here Zag goes, being unreasonable again, and there’s nothing I can do to stop him. Megaera’s attitude is similar. They both fail to show Zagreus the respect of communicating their actual opinions to him. He’s right to be hurt by that, at the end of the main chapter.

And I wanted to show Than and Meg making this mistake, together, because I feel that even canonically, even with both romances complete, both of them take the attitude that they are reasonable and he is unreasonable. Their adherence to the order of the Underworld and the House is something they are doing that is morally good, and his defiance is something that is morally bad, and they’ll both permit it because of his circumstances and because, mortifyingly, they’ve both come to care for him, but even so that is taking the attitude that they are in a position to permit, to allow, and that his actions are the aberrance. And you know what? That’s a shitty attitude to take with anyone, let alone your boyfriend. I wanted them to face this hurting Zag, and moreover making things wildly uncomfortable for them, too—so that they could see the truth of what a negative stance that is, and repent of it. Decide, consciously, to do better.

And then the last thing I wanted to touch on was an idea that, bluntly speaking, Zagreus is better and more practiced at wanting things. Megaera and Thanatos have been living and working for aeons in this environment where what they sincerely want is the last thing they’re able to take into consideration when it comes to what they must do. Zagreus... lives and has worked in this same environment, but because of whatever quirk of personality, he refuses to sublimate himself. Prior to the game, it seems, this mostly took the shape of just not doing what he wasn’t motivated to do; but now, during canon, Zagreus is going after what he wants no matter how many times he fails. No matter how many times his father or the fates themselves tell him no, he is going to keep trying. And I wanted to look at how this is foreign and overwhelming to Meg and Than, how they might even reject it at first because it’s so foreign—but also how they are drawn to it. How it’s something liberating, how they might learn from it and become more fully themselves. More honest, more relaxed, happier. If only they take the step of admitting that they are in the wrong here, and that they’ve been stifling and harming themselves for a long, long time and calling it justified.

(That post about what your favorite Hades ship says about you has my number so thoroughly; why, yes, I am bisexual, and yes, I do live and breathe for repressed characters letting down their guard for exactly one person; and yes, I am a fan of men getting p—wait, that last bit’s not relevant here.)

I’m ready for 1.0, I think. There’s been a lot of post-clear content integrated into the game without the ramifications of a true clear—one that doesn’t involve the storyteller killing you in increasingly aggravated ways, whatever that’s going to look like—actually being incorporated. And I’m hoping a true clear involves a little more tension. Not permanently, not in a way that breaks some of the happy endings that are already in place. But in a way that makes the characters work for them a little more, in transition. Who clings harder to the status quo, which is broken but has been stable? Who fights a little more against the good that Zagreus is doing by pushing back? What prices are paid for breaking things so that they must be rebuilt better? I want to see these tensions. The game starts in an untenable place and asks hard questions, and I hope that the mechanical difficulty of the escape process isn’t considered enough to have earned emotionally easy answers. Because complication is what I’m interested in. Complication, and characters deciding that it’s worth it to put in the effort needed to address that complication. That’s why I wrote “The Diamond” and that’s why I’m proud of it.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Frank what is "a theorem called bayes", and why should we trust it?

It's a theorem that says that if, in some situation, you know some number p of facts, then you can determine which of those p facts are most likely to be true, given other facts that you know. (Note: the theorem is kind of misleading about how it describes probability theory, in that it doesn't treat probabilities as something that can arise out of combination of "facts" or anything like that – it's really a theorem about how to estimate probabilities from empirical data, which can be interpreted a bunch of different ways)

Most often this theorem is applied to give a formula (a "Bayesian algorithm") that can be fed to any type of probability distribution to estimate its p-value with arbitrarily low probability of being wrong – that is, to do well in a kind of statistical experiment that you wouldn't expect human beings to be able to do well in. But if you have a model of the type of reasoning people generally use, then it's possible to do even better (although it would require working with more than just an empirical estimate from a sample).

It's a really amazing thing when you think about it in that "fact/belief" language. Sure, Bayes' Theorem and all, it's a statement about the logical relations between facts and beliefs, but it still says that you can figure out which "beliefs are most likely" by looking at a data sample and taking a subset of the sample, and this subset "leads to that belief" after you do it a bunch of times. You don't have to make predictions or anything like that – it's completely analogous in spirit to the classic "find probabilities" algorithms, which typically involve iteration and the results of one iteration depend on future results.

As far as I can tell, I wrote a bunch about this stuff when I was working on my thesis at the end of my first year of grad school, and when the adviser I had at the time introduced the subject of my research to, whom I'll call Bob.

(You can read all about the work I did on the bayes theorem here if you like, although the most important thing it says is "look at empirical data and combine it in a natural way. It just works, man")

Anyway, Bob wrote this gigantic post about it in 2009, which I've been intending to link here for the last several years, but tumblr's interface doesn't let you click a tag like that. (Although I could, and have, linked some really long posts that way.) Anyway, I guess you could read his post if you want, although you should be warned that it talks about its subject in the "not actually rigorously true at all, but just so beautiful that if you build a structure around it, I want to go make babies" language, so if you decide that you don't want to build a superstructure around that, you really might not be satisfied.)

[chipchopclipclop]

Any ships for the Witcher?

I GOT ALOT

this WAS under a readmore BC TUMBLR LIKES TO BREAK WHEN YOU EDIT ASKS I GUESS bc it started to get embarrassingly long but im pretty much a multi shipper in any fandom or thing im into but also especially with geralt if hes involved bc i like to hc him as being in love with like…80 percent of the people he knows and is a hashtag #openrelationship king bc the way this game treats him being weirdly exclusive annoys the fuck out of me we, live in our city now.

geralt is involved

Geralt/Dandelion - ouch my dick ouch my balls the original brain dick pounding. I pretty much like any iteration of them with each other but no show geralt bc game geralt is superior in every way 2 me (PERSONAL PREF PLS NO FLAME (him with no beard is fucked up also)) i usually dont like the pair though if people depict dandy as some… naive pure waif or some such…. this man is a hoe and stupid through and through dont overlook this. its important.

I am also actually am a sucker for geralt singing his praises quietly fr no goddamn reason aside from hes infatuated with him and getting weirdly defensive about him and everyone else around him is just like. Christ. this is influenced by me never being able to pick the bully options when i was playing w3 ( i am whipped)

Geralt/Eskel/Lambert - soon as i knew they were more wolf witchers my brain entered a state of superflux. which means i followed them around making mooney eyes constantly, Im more fond of Geralt/Eskel leg of this ot3 bc they have such. old married couple energy and i am in love with Eskel but i love and respect our king lambert as well and he deserves a good ramming, DONT WE ALL? I REST MY CASE.

i also like to think like geralt, the two are pretty open relationship wise by nature tho i could say this about any of these characters bc i like poly hawhaw but something about witchers being seen as unemotional and unfeeling but these guys just having alot of love to give to each other and with others…poetry 😔

Geralt/Yennefer - i have complicated feelings on this pairing bc the show confounded me in how it happened and then it felt so faking weird in w3 bc of all the weird jealousy love triangle stuff i was forced to sit through as well as yen p much just calling me a dumbass donkey every hour before being like alright. time to fuck randomly. and it was executed bad. i didn’t like it and it was bad.

BUT. the potential here is still good and i like a cagey yennefer who finds it hard to trust opening up more slowly to geralt bc hes just like. straightforward…. i think their convo on the boat was kind of cute too… i think i just am really not into the THEY’RE TIED BY DESTINY TO EACH OTHER. LIKE. LITERALLY. aspect of their relationship especially when they seem to clash to hard against it. when she broke the wish with the djinn though and they were acting sweet with each other it made me kinda 🥺 uhu…. my goth wife….

i also dont mind these two deciding they work better together platonically as well though and being like, chummy exes lolol the ribbing that would entail…

Geralt/Yennefer/Dandelion - i think aqua gave me the idea for this but i am tickled by the thought of Dandelion landing himself TWO powerful beau’s who will step in to defend him from the stupid shite he gets himself into 24/7. Yennefer walking in front of him while he gets cussed out by someone just saying “Is there a problem?” smiling menacingly… does that not fuck…. i say it does !

i think her and dandelion’s relationship is just…..very funny and not dramatic so its very fun to think about even romantically. and also geralt is there and plays the beleaguered straight man.

Geralt/Regis - i am putting this here even if i have not finished blood and wine yet bc oh my godddddddddddddddddddddddddddd [smacks head with rock] also my first interaction with w3 was watching a friend play one of his quests with another friend and and all three of us go mad bc we were like IS THIS MEANT TO BE DRIPPING WITH SEXUAL TENSION AND INNUENDO. WHAT IS GOING ON. ARE WE LOSING IT. HELLO. we all deserve a big word speaking vampire boyfriend

Keira/Geralt - they are cute…. i dont need to defend myself….her being so pompous around him is so funny 2 me

Geralt/Zoltan - i like zoltan okay, actually these two have similar retired dad energy but zoltan is the one who makes them go out for date night still

Geralt/Zoltan/Dandelion - i am thinking about it i am thinking about it

edit: Yennefer/Eskel/Geralt/Lambert - poki put this idea in my head just now GEE YENNEFER HOW COME YOUR MOM LETS YOU SMASH THREE WITCHERS?

not geralt centric

Triss/Yennefer - oh my god they were schoolmates.png and yenn calling triss her best friend made me go hmmmghhh 🥺 also im sick of this series being like oh no my best friend slept with my boyfriend, DRAMA! they are also dating okay shut up #lovewins, i need to intake more witcher content to further solidify these two as a pair in my head but its on the agenda. i am looking. i am watching. WAITING.

Eskel/Dandelion - take my faves and smack them together like barbie dolls also dandelion having a type thats just - witcher is comedy gold on top of that? eskel being flattered a pretty dude like this is into him…cute

Ciri/That One Readhead Girl Whose Name I Forgot - you know in the quest where ciri asks you to come around with her in novigrad and help thank the people who helped her and one was the cute barmaid with freckles, they were so cute what the fuck it lasted all of 5 minutes and i cant stop thinking about it, ciri’s government assigned girlfriend (i am the government)

Regis/Dandelion - when i was walking around his sick basement in w3 he had a book that dandelion has written about him in there… and all it said was nice things… and regis kept it in clear view? much to consider… thinking on this….

Priscilla/Dandelion - these two…surprisingly wholesome… also god i love bards. i dont think about the end of the quest where she gets owned for no reason they’re just faking chilling in novigrad making bank. ALSO i still cant believe these two dont come with you when you’re forming the avengers crew to defend kaer morhen how r they gonna write about it if they arent there !!!!!!! let them sit in the rafters and throw bombs conspiratorially !!!!! smh !!!!!

Priscilla/Yennefer - think pris having a hero crush on yennefer is very cute… she meets her for the first time and her thoughts r just oh god shes even prettier than the song said she was [brain explodes into mush] also her singing about her when geralt rocks up dare i say gay activity ?

Keira/Lambert - find it very funny w3 was like ‘and then keira decided to pick up lambert to roam around with her like he’s some weird fucking stray cat whos hair she likes to fuss over’ also lambert being forced to behave around her scholarly friends lmfao

Dandelion/Everyone okay - this man be fucking

[trevorbarre]

Cults (Not Cults): Earthling and Soul Coughing

To continue the theme of the last blog, I propose to nominate two albums that I feel deserve the somewhat dubious accolade of ‘cult album’. Given that one of the determinants of this award is contemporary indifference, the debut albums of Bristol Trip Hoppers Earthing and New York postmodernist/clever dicks Soul Coughing (whose name may have been an unfortunately aversive giveaway/put off?) will fit perfectly into this narrative. The albums were called, respectively, Radar and Ruby Vroom (again, the nominative signifier of potential naff?) They were released in 1994 and 1995, an interesting period for rock historians, given that it produced Brit Pop, early Drum and Bass, and ‘Isolationism’ (the latter’s king being Kevin Martin of Techno Animal and Ice non-fame, as well as his great compilation of the same name). I considered nominating two Brit Po(p)tential-cult items of the time, The Auteurs’ New Wave and The Longpigs’ The Sun Is Often Out, but the former duos won out, as probably selling even less than the latter two.

I’m not proposing to ‘review’ these albums, as listeners will be able to access them easily online. Ruby Vroom is a real treat from beginning to end, despite all the jiggery-pokery of their schtick. From the creepily prescient first track, ‘Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago’ (curiously redolent of Was(Not Was), who influenced the title of this very blog?), features the line ‘A man drives a plane into the Chrysler Building’ (7 full years before 9/11). (Enough, I would have thought, to get the band on the FBI most-wanted list, and at the forefront of conspiracy theorist wet dreams?) Wiki described SC as “a wilfully idiosyncratic mix of improvisational jazz grooves, oddball samples, hip hops, electronics and noisy experimentalism”, which just about does my job for me in terms of recommending them. As further tasters, they were part of a 1992 performance of Zorn’s ‘Cobra’ at The Knitting Factory. They sound to me a bit like a 1994 iteration of Devo, and/or an update of the sort of acts that appeared on Ze Records in the early 80s (the ‘Mutant Disco’ crowd). They wouldn’t have been out of place in a David Lynch film, and, amazingly, lasted till 2000, after two further albums (with decreasing returns).

Earthing sadly missed out on the Trip Hop band wagon (whose wheels came loose so soon!), but left us Radar, easily the equal of Dummy, (equally great samples), Protection (admittedly Massive Attacks’s ‘difficult second album’) and Maxinquaye (with ’Moni’ taking up Maxine’s role), as far as I’m concerned. They were multi-referential in the opening ‘Ist. Transmission’: “I’m Polyanna in the way I portray”, “Gosh, gosh, I’m Juliette Binoche” (brilliant rhyme, and there’s so much more in this track!), “I am who I am, I’m not who you think I am”. (Identity Politics were still many years away, let’s remember,) Earthling were basically a duo, rapper Mau and producer Tim Saul, and both of their eventual albums featured Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, and it’s a great shame that they have been sidelined in history. There will always be losers in the mosh pit of the various ‘scenes’, whether Trip Hop of PoMo Lower East Side syncretism, but I’m flying a flag here for Radar and Ruby Vroom. Give them a listen.

[jeanvaljean24601]

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Hands-On Preview

I guide my longship along the waterways of East Anglia, one of the regions of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Anglo-Saxon map. Ahead is the shoreline of Beodericsworth, which will soon be the stage for one of this Viking-themed entry’s flagship features; raiding. With the blow of a horn, my crew begin bailing out, charging up the sands and crashing into the shields of the village’s unprepared guards. Wood splinters, blood gushes, and heads drop from shoulders. It’s exactly the kind of skirmish you’d expect from a Norseman raid. Inside, we hack apart the guard leaders defending the village’s treasures and take it for ourselves. Amongst our findings are two caskets so large it takes multiple vikings to get them open, filled with raw crafting materials. It’s a bounty that will, at the very least, get a knowing nod from Odin, if not a smile.Raiding in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla feels smaller scale than I expected, but is nonetheless good fun, and a vital part of fulfilling the Viking fantasy at the heart of the game. It’s also not the only way to pillage a Saxon settlement. The first time I approached a raiding target in a recent three-hour hands-on with Valhalla, I actually bailed out of the longship on my own, snuck around the back, and crept from guard to guard, taking them out silently. Stealthing the entire camp was overly easy due to the enemies standing perfectly still at their posts - something I hope will be upgraded with patrol paths by the time of full release - but some satisfaction remained thanks to the fact that Assassin’s Creed’s iconic hidden blade has been restored to full power once again, killing instantly with a generous splash of crimson. Preorder Assassin's Creed Valhalla Post-raiding party, I take protagonist Eivor to meet up with fellow clansman Finnr, who sets us on a course to assault Burgh Castle in Northwich, where we’ll face a rival clan. This transitions into what is effectively the boss fight version of raiding; Valhalla’s siege assaults. This one begins with a Viking variant of D-Day, with landing craft exchanged for longships and machine gun fire swapped out for volleys of flaming arrows. As the boats hit the shore and the first set of walls are blown apart, I become tangled up in the first phase of the main assault. It’s here where Valhalla’s combat really shines, despite the rough edges of the work-in-progress build. It’s an iterative upgrade of the system first introduced in Assassin’s Creed Origins, but one with enough Norse-flavoured garnish that it feels just right. Active abilities return, including one that has Eivor hurl half a dozen throwing axes into a collection of nearby enemies, and another that’s basically a charge-and-tackle manovre that lasts for as long as there’s still yards left to sprint. Such abilities can only be triggered by spending adrenaline, which is built through performing standard attacks and parries. But the moments between those super-powered blows are no less entertaining. Enemies have a stun meter, which when worn down allows you to follow up with finishers such as beating them over the head with their own shield, or swinging your axe up through their chin. Foes knocked to the floor can be leapt and stomped on as if they were a bed at a child’s slumber party. And if they refuse to fall over, they can be gleefully booted across the battlefield with the Kick of Tyr; essentially Odyssey’s Spartan Kick in all but name. In moments like these, the spirit of the berserker really starts to shine through. With the first courtyard clear of enemies, I’m able to use a battering ram to break down a timber perimeter fence and progress up to the gate. There are three phases in the assault (frustratingly without checkpointing in this preview build, meaning a full restart on death) with each introducing a new wrinkle of complexity. At the next gate, contained within a stone archway, archers fire arrows from wall-mounted ballistas and pour gallons of burning oil over the ramming crew. On the other side in the final courtyard, the castle’s hardiest occupants do their best to scupper your assault.By this point, I’m feeling fairly exhausted (I’m on my third attempt) and Eivor is feeling the burn. There’s no regenerating health in Valhalla, nor an HP boosting ability like Odyssey’s Second Wind. Instead, you have rations; effectively health potions made up of food gathered from the open world. While the grounds of the castle have a few mushrooms to nibble on, by the last phase of the assault I’ve picked both the land and my pockets dry of food, and have sustained a dent to my HP meter. In other words, I’m not well equipped for the boss battle the game then throws me into. Rued is a rival Viking armed with a longsword he can set ablaze, and is accompanied by a pet wolf. Like with many of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s boss fights, it’s in this battle where you can detect some potential Soulsborne influences. Eivor has a stamina meter, depleted by dealing heavy melee damage, dodging, and absorbing enemy strikes with your shield. While light attacks may come for free, in a tight boss fight arena populated by a walking mountain and a ravenous wolf, it means stamina is constantly in need of attention. The wolf is able to grab hold of my shield in its maw, opening me up to heavy cleaves from Rued while I try to wrestle my arm free. A few well-placed strikes and some throwing axes knock the wolf out of the fight, leaving just Rued and I to dance it out atop the castle wall. As the fight progresses Rued begins to throw his weapons at me, but the combination of his attack patterns and the gap between us means there isn’t enough time for me to pull out my bow and strike back at range. With the screen fading to black as my health drops to critical levels, I’m just able to dodge a blow and generate enough adrenaline to perform Dive of the Valkyries; a leap that brings both my axe and shield down on Rued in a bone-crunching slam. He’s done for. Before I can bury the hatchet in his skull, though, my hand is stayed by Oswald, an Englishman ally who we’ve saved from Rued’s clutches. He preaches of fair trials before God, and I’m offered the choice to kill or spare my enemy. h96 max tv boxI do the sensible thing and slice open Rued’s neck with an axe, much to Oswald’s distaste.A bug in the demo - something not uncommon in pre-release builds - means I have to reset the game. I continue from where I left off, but am told that in this save game Eivor has abided by Oswald’s request and spared Rued. Fair enough, I think, that’ll keep him happy for his wedding, which is Valhalla’s next quest. Very much following in Odyssey’s footsteps, Valhalla - at least in this showing - has a well-judged balance between light and dark. h96 max x3After a gloomy castle siege I’m treated to a wedding filled with fun conversations and mini-games. I’m challenged to shoot a field full of targets after downing a flagon of ale, and take part in a drinking competition in which I need to neck no less than three horns of beer and not fall over in the process. It’s a delightful time to celebrate Oswald uniting with our clan as he marries Norsewoman Valdis. At least, it is until Rued crashes the party. It appears that Valhalla has ambitions to take the RPG side Assassin’s Creed up a notch; this moment feels like the kind of narrative consequence akin to what we’d see in games like Dragon Age. Because Rued had been spared, he turns up at the wedding looking for vengeance (had he died, I’m informed I’d instead be enjoying a race around the town). But rather than my blood, it’s Oswald’s he’s here to claim. At this point I’m offered another choice; I can let Oswald fight, or I can be his champion and kill Rued on his behalf. I take the latter option, and while I cut down Rued for good this time, Oswald seems slightly disappointed in me taking his place. I wonder if, in later hours, this will have a negative effect on our relationship. I also wonder if this is not just a one off event, but a promise that Valhalla is filled with these kinds of choices and repercussions. Along with narrative choices, Valhalla also iterates on the RPG stats systems its predecessors added to the Assassin’s Creed mix. Alongside the familiar active abilities is a constellation-style map of skill upgrades that provides a variety of passive upgrades. Some improve your basic stats - higher damage, increased health - while others unlock new combat moves such as stun attacks and finishers; those additional attacks that make the combat that extra bit more flavourful. Together, all of your upgrades increase your Global Power rating, a numerical indicator as to how powerful you are that replaces standard levelling. h96 max x3Alongside the introduction of further RPG mechanics, Valhalla’s world is also significantly more traditional of the genre, too; when galloping around it on my horse, or sailing down rivers on my longboat, it was easy to mistake England for The Witcher 3’s Velen. This means, visually, Valhalla is less striking than Odyssey or Origins, with its practically Tolkien colour palette feeling less fresh than the sands of Egypt or mediteranean greenery of Greece. Yet, perhaps because I’m English, I can’t help but get a thrill out of exploring just-about-recognisable versions of my own homeland.h96 max x3It should also be noted that Valhalla embraces British folklore perhaps more than it does Norse Mythology; as I explored this small chunk of the world I came across Black Shuck, a huge black dog that’s part of classic East Anglian folklore, as well as two members of the Daughters of Lerion; Gaelic women dressed in skulls with a fondness for sacrificial rituals and the supernatural. As with Odyssey, exploring uncovers optional bosses and other fun activities, although this time it’s all a lot more goth. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla looks to be, as is the tradition of the series, an iterative update on its predecessors. If the new approach to RPG design and gear-based progression has put you off the series, this slice of the game indicates that you’ll likely be unconvinced by Valhalla’s barely altered direction. But the few changes it makes to those systems suggests developer Ubisoft Montreal may have a newfound confidence in its RPG abilities, and a willingness to embrace more of the genre’s toolset. If its branching story points are frequent occurrences, it may be that Valhalla’s real innovation comes from player agency in the narrative, rather than any mechanical revisions. Provided the game delivers on that promise, my only genuine concern is that the return of the lethal hidden blade hasn’t resulted in instantly satisfying stealth. h96 max tv boxIt currently feels underbaked due to those stationary guards, and so needs some extra challenge to make it a worthwhile alternative to the entertainingly barbaric combat encounters. Fix that, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla might well be able to both reclaim its lineage and further its admirable RPG ambitions.Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

[maryellencarter]

the Y-wing rant

So. Y-wings. The thing about Y-wings is that they are Not Fast. They are tough, hefty bombers designed to be protected by faster snubfighters while they get close enough to blow up your Star Destroyer, Death Star, etc.

The Rogue Squadron books were originally conceived as tie-ins to the Rogue Squadron video games. Knowing that, it's extremely clear what Michael A. Stackpole's video game playstyle is: he likes fast things. Tycho is an A-wing pilot, the fastest of the fast.

The current iteration of the Rogue Squadron fandom has been largely formed by and around Rogue Podron. I'm not complaining; I love my fandom and I'm overjoyed to have other people to play with here. But the podron, coming in without other reference, picked up on Stackpole's repeated references to Y-wings as "wallowing pigs" etc, and so the common fandom perception right now is that Y-wings are Terrible, The Worst, why would you put them in the sequel trilogy now that you have B-wings, etc etc etc.

So, full disclosure here. Two things: (1) Wes likes Y-wings, so I am prejudiced in their favor. I'm the *only* person in this iteration of the fandom who appears to be prejudiced in their favor, rather than against them or being neutral, which is why I am doing a rant.

(2) I mentioned Mike Stackpole's video game playstyle earlier. He likes speed, the faster the better. My own video game playstyle is also relevant to this discussion: I play the character who can't dodge and doesn't need to. The slow, trudging, impregnable front line, as @loquaciousquark said years ago after a memorable co-op game where all four of us played my favorite slow clunky un-sync-killable player character. In other words, Stackpole plays A-wings and TIEs by preference. I play Y-wings, or would if I played space battle games. (I can't brain in three dimensions at once.)

So much for disclosure. Back to facts. In "Isard's Revenge", Mike Stackpole designed his perfect snubfighter, the TIE Defender. Now, the Defender makes me kind of angry, because it's overpowered as hell to the point that I think it kind of breaks the physical limitations of snubfighter engineering as previously established, but let's set that aside and look at the stats. This would be easier in spreadsheet format, but we'll make do.

So, comparing the TIE Defender to other snubfighters, here are the relevant facts: Speed/Agility (usually treated as interchangeable), Durability, Hyperdrive, Proton Torpedoes, Ion Cannon, Tractor Beam. The Defender has *all* of these maxed out. It is game-breakingly overpowered. 6/6, congratulations.

X-wings have a good balance of Speed/Agility and Durability. Wedge believes them to be the perfect snubfighter for this reason. They also have a hyperdrive and proton torpedoes, so they're versatile in combat, but not as versatile as the TIE Defender. 4/6, a good snubfighter.

A-wings and most TIEs have speed and (depending on who's writing them) agility, but not much durability; you get hit, you're dead. A-wings at least have shields and a hyperdrive, but they're still flimsy. A-wings and some TIE models also pack concussion missiles, an underpowered substitute for proton torpedoes, useful mainly against other snubfighters (a concussion missile took Wes out at Distna). TIEs 1-1.5, A-wings 2.5, all they really have going for them is being zippy little critters.

Y-wings do not have Speed/Agility. They have put all those stat points into Durability. They also have Hyperdrive, Proton Torpedoes, and even an Ion Cannon. (No other snubfighter besides the Defender has a tractor beam. It's the only ship smaller than a Lambda shuttle to claim it packs that kind of spare engine power.) 4/6, matching the X-wing.

So... oh look. The TIE Defender's true nature stands revealed. It's simply a fast Y-wing. ;P Like I said, Y-wings are great, Mike Stackpole is just mean about them.

(Plus the Y-wing has one other feature shared only by snowspeeders and Adumari Blade-class snubfighters: a tail cannon. The ability to shoot people behind you is imperative on, oh, let's say, trench runs...)

I don't want to be the sort of person who shuts down conversation about my pet issue. Still think Y-wings are terrible? Have I made a fundamental flaw in logic? Do TIE Defenders have tailchasers? Let me know! I'm not gonna be mad or hurt, I was raised in the kind of culture where setting aside your emotions to debate objective facts is the highest virtue, and I still tend to do it for fun (to the perplexity and occasional consternation of my friends).

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Dylan on the Devil’s Holiday

An October 31st treat from James Adams! Check out an all-Halloween Dylan mix/essay — take it away, James! 

One of my first acquisitions back in the B&P trading days was a two-disc CD-R set called “All Hallows Eve and More.” It was a recording of Bob Dylan’s riveting performance at New York City’s Philharmonic Hall on 31 October 1964. The show is mesmerizing and ambitious, restless and hilarious. It was a jewel in my bootleg collection.

An earlier LP version of the bootleg was called “Halloween Mask” (or “Halloween Masque,” depending on which side of the Atlantic your copy was pressed). Dylan provided the title by making a funny comment during the show. After a heavy and emphatic version of “Gates of Eden” and a false start on the sex comedy of “If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got to Stay All Night)” Dylan giggles:

“Don’t let that scare you. It’s just Halloween. I have my Bob Dylan mask on. I’m masquerading.”

Indeed, it was Halloween and that slightly stoned exchange with the enthralled audience must be the most memorable moment in Dylan’s Halloween performance history. In 2004, Columbia released the concert tape officially, making it Volume 6 in Dylan’s Bootleg Series.

The Philharmonic show wins the prize for best costume, but there are many Dylan Halloween highlights. A year prior, he spent two hours in Columbia’s Studio A during “The Times They Are A-Changin’” sessions and left with the fantastic album version of “Restless Farewell.” In 1971, he spent time at Allen Ginsberg’s apartment, jamming with Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and David Amram and improvising music to accompany William Blake poems. Gregory Corso was there to hang and you can listen to the tape at the Stanford University Library. In 1998, Dylan had a studio session with Joan Osborne and together they recorded an upbeat version of “Chimes of Freedom,” for a television miniseries about the ‘60s. In 1987, Dylan spent Halloween at Barry White’s house. Maybe they discussed whether candy corn is delicious or disgusting?

Most of Dylan’s Halloween highlights occurred on the road and that’s what this mix aims to capture. Collected here is a chronological mix of live* Dylan performances recorded on October 31st  – Halloween. It begins with the 1975 iteration of Rolling Thunder (a night when Dylan wore an actual mask onstage) and stretches all the way to 2013. (Dylan’s last Halloween show occurred in 2018 but there are no known recordings of that Knoxville, TN performance).

I picked what I consider the most interesting performances from each night but the content and sound quality varies widely. Occasionally the performances are scary. They’re always interesting. I avoided selecting duplicate song titles. I included the rare occasions when Dylan acknowledged Halloween from the stage and preserved that “Bob Talk.” There’s even a cheesy Halloween-themed joke!

My favorite Bob Dylan Halloween moment occurred in 1977. Dylan again spent the day with Allen Ginsberg and the two passed hours discussing Dylan’s film “Renaldo & Clara.” The result is a riveting and insightful interview where Dylan uncharacteristically shares deep insights into the meaning and complexities of his art. (“This movie stops time in a way that no American movie ever has and I don’t think will. What we’ve done is hold on to something which seemed to be escapable, and we captured it and made it real.”)

That evening, Dylan, Ginsberg, and Dylan’s partner in filmmaking Howard Alk donned masks and grabbed guitars. Together they roamed the streets of Malibu as undercover troubadour ghosts, presumably blending with nervous trick-or-treaters and impatient parents and offering impromptu performances on dark sidewalks and street corners. Can you imagine?! The idea is stunning.

Dylan isn’t playing a Halloween show this year. He is on the road, though, somewhere between Chicago and South Bend. If you live near there keep your eyes wide while roaming the streets after dark. You might just catch a glimpse of someone wearing a Bob Dylan mask before they slip away into the shadows again.

/

* There is one exception to this rule. Track number 4 is a studio recording from 1985, though the performance is clearly recorded live to tape. I’m not certain it was recorded on 31 October but that date is plausible and proposed elsewhere. Given the quality of the recording and the performance—but especially the title and subject of the song—there was no choice but to include it here.

//

Track List:

1. Isis – 1975 – Plymouth, MA – War Memorial Auditorium 2. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat) – 1978 – St. Paul, MN – Civic Center 3. Masters of War – 1981 – Kitchener, Ontario – Kitchener Arena 4. Baby Coming Back from the Dead – 1985 – Los Angeles, CA – Cherokee Studios 5. Ballad of Hollis Brown – 1989 – Chicago, IL – Arie Crown Theater 6. Wiggle Wiggle – 1990 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium 7. Gotta Serve Somebody – 1991 – Wichita, KS – Civic Center 8. Man in the Long Black Coat – 1994 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre 9. Blind Willie McTell – 1997 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Coleman Coliseum 10. Love Sick – 1999 – Chicago, IL – University of Illinois Conference Center Pavilion 11. Country Pie – 2000 – Evanston, IL – Welsh Ryan McGaw Hall 12. Mississippi – 2001 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center 13. Positively 4th Street – 2004 – DeKalb, IL – Convocation Center 14. Band Introduction – 2004 – DeKalb, IL – Convocation Center 15. Thunder on the Mountain – 2006 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center 16. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking – 2009 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom 17. Queen Jane Approximately – 2010 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre 18. Forgetful Heart – 2011 – Hamburg, German – Boxen Arena 19. Beyond Here Lies Nothing – 2013 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Heineken Music Hall

[cosmotographer]

The Leica M10 Review

…yes I know it’s 2020 and it’s late

This review was a long time coming since I had originally planned on writing this review last Spring. It was during that time when I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to pick up a second-hand Leica M10 in black from a fellow forum member in exchange for two of my lenses at the time (Summilux 35mm FLE and the Summicron 50mm V5). Was it worth selling my M240 at the time and trading off two lenses for the M10?

Before I continue with this review, I should caveat by saying that this is my second M10 as I sold the first one during the first draft of this review last year after my trip from Miami and Key West. I had sold it over the summer because I didn’t feel the premium wasn’t worth it to me, therefore I had sold it off and picked up a mint silver chrome M-P 240 which I loved and took it several trips with me.

Fast forward to 2020, an opportunity had come up for an M10 while I was at the gym one morning. I was catching up on Leica things during a break (as you do) and I had found a silver chrome M10 for sale for a price that was hard to pass up. A price so good, that I had completely stopped working out and went into full-time stalker mode with the seller on securing the purchase via text message. After less than 5 minutes of communicating back and forth, we had agreed on a price and a successful transaction was made.

I said farewell my beloved M-P (Typ 240) as it sold in less than a day to a gentleman in Texas. You were the best iteration of the best value digital Leica M camera, but how does the M10 compare and do I still think it was worth the money to upgrade?

My first Leica M10 in black

“Minute changes like these is what legendary products need. Nothing drastic, but incremental improvements.”

Introduction

When the M10 was first introduced in January 2017, it was a cause for celebration as reviews sang their praises as the ‘best Leica yet’ while commenting on its new 24 megapixel sensor paired with the latest Maestro II processor, a bigger viewfinder magnification with better eye-relief, a body that is as slim as the M7 film camera, a new manual ISO dial and what is this?

They’ve removed video recording!

Nobody cared. Moving on.

Not only did Leica giveth and taketh away with the M10, but they had also made the camera significantly more simplified compared to its predecessor. Leica’s new devotion to minimalism that could be seen back in 2015 with the introduction of the Leica Q, transferred over to the M10 as the camera now has less buttons, removed any superfluous menu options which led to a more structured and cleaner menu system. They even changed the power switch so that it only does one thing now: On or Off. This is a big deal as the Leica Q had a problem with some users accidentally switching to “Continuous” as the power switch had the tendency to go full-auto. Minute changes like these is what legendary products need. Nothing drastic, but incremental improvements.

Look at every new iteration of the the Porsche 911. It’s not the same car, but just improved.

As the difference in technology between the M240 (2012) and the M10 (2017) span 5 years, the improvements of the M10 can be noticed instantly with its new slimmer profile when you pick it up for the first time. While the M240 wasn’t a big camera compared to other full-frame cameras, but if you compared Leica’s other rangefinders, the M240 was a thicc boy. After a few weeks of getting reacquainted with the M10 again, I felt that the M10 is just like any other Leica: it’s more than the sum of its parts and more about its evolution rather than revolution. That’s why, at least currently, it’s the best digital iteration of Leica’s fabled rangefinder (until the M11).

My new Leica M10 in silver chrome

“…it’s more than the sum of its parts and more about its evolution rather than revolution.”

Build & Design

The M10’s new slimmer body and lighter weight compared to the M240 was very obvious and noticeable to me. As your right thumb rub against the right corner of the body next to the exposure dial, you’ll also notice the new paint finish as Leica had decided to use matte/chrome treated paint compared to the previous “black paint” finish in the previous gens. I personally prefer the black paint finish as the lacquer paint would fade over time, showing the dull gold glow of the brass underneath. This brassing gave the camera a nice patina, like a worn leather jacket after years of use.

Brassing on a Leica M240

I believe that Leica did this intentionally to give the camera a more timeless look as the brassing would give the camera an aged look over time, but I feel that the patina brings out the character of the camera. With each worn paint on different parts of the body, there is a story that comes with it. The new chrome paint finish will not age as gracefully, as it will just dull over the time, losing its matte luster to just a shiny sheen of metal.

Leica M10 Cutaway | Courtesy of Leica Camera AG

Tough as Nails

Just because the M10 doesn’t brass like its predecessors, doesn’t the camera feels cheap. The components are still machined from solid brass and magnesium alloy chassis, holding in all the components in such a small body. Nothing about the build quality is different with the M10 and they are still built to same high standards. Don’t let the smaller size of the M10 fool you either as the weight between the M240 and the M10 are almost identical (1.46 lbs vs. 1.50 lbs).

Width: 33.7mm

Weight: 1.46 lbs

Leica may not openly advertise this, but the body is weather-sealed against light precipitation and dust.

Refined Shutter

The shutter sound is definitely quieter and more refined than the M240, but the feel is about the same. Half press locks the exposure and full press releases the shutter with a refined “click”. I can’t explain the sound, but it feels slightly muffled compared to the M240. It’s definitely quieter than the M9’s robo-sex doll shutter cock sound, but I kind of like that as that’s part of the M9’s many charms.

I can’t speak for the shutter feel on the M10-P or M10-D as I don’t have any experience with them yet, but they have the quietest mechanical curtain shutters. Maybe one day I’ll pick one up (actually I know I’ll have one in the future).

Diamonds are Forever

Most of the back panel is dominated by a 3-inch TFT LCD monitor which has 1,036,800 dots and can display 16 million colors in addition to providing 100% frame coverage during live view. The difference in resolution between the M240 and the M10 may not be noticeable, at least to me, but the difference in contrast is very apparent. It’s also years ahead of the M9, which is only useful for checking exposure as it has the same screen quality of a GameBoy.

The LCD glass screen itself deserves its own paragraph as it’s sporting the latest Gorilla Glass, specifically developed for this camera by Corning. While the glass feel strong and strudy, I personally question its durability compared to the Leica M-P’s (Typ 240) more robust and exotic sapphire glass. Something that Leica had also omitted from the M10-P and M10-D. This is a big difference as sapphire glass is borderline industructible by conventional means, which is why it’s used on high-end watches that can only be scratched by diamonds. I wouldn’t be surprised if the M10’s screen is very similar to the Leica Q.

Balanced

Lastly, the body feels more balanced due to better weight distribution between the front and rear of the body if you hold the camera up by just the strap with a lens attached. This is one of the major benefits of the M10’s slimmer body as it pairs perfectly with compact lenses like the Summicron 35mm ASPH or the Voigtlander Ultron 35mm. This may not seem like a big deal, but weight distribution is counts if you want to pull some weight off your left hand, relieving some pressure off your fingers as you focus.

Miami, Florida | M10 + Summicron 35mm ASPH

“…body is weather-sealed against light precipitation and dust”

User Experience

There is something to be said about the user experience of a thinner, faster, and more accurate Leica rangefinder, especially with its improved eye relief for people with glasses. Compared to the M240, there are some noticeable improvements.

Pin-Point Accuracy

The new viewfinder has a magnification of .73x compared to the M240’s .68x magnification. This may not seem much, but that is a big difference when you’re looking inside a tiny window and you’ll notice it right away when you’re focusing your lenses. It’s much easier to nail a sharp focus and with fast lenses, this is a big improvement. By just walking around with the Voigtlander Ultron 35/1.7 ASPH I had at the time, I noticed that I was nailing focus with very little to no micro-adjustments to get a sharp focus patch. That means there is one less thing to worry about on getting a sharp focus. The second one being the quality of your eye sight to see the patch clearly.

This new viewfinder can also be a double-edged sword for those that wear glasses as composing with 28mm or 36mm lenses will have a more difficult time to compose since the eye-relief, while is improved, it’s still not ideal for glasses.

New Viewfinder | Courtesy of Leica Camera AG

Simplified Menu System

Leica had released a firmware update in 2018, which introduced the Favorites Menu that was brought over from the Leica Q. A very handy upgrade since it no longer required you to dive into the 2.5 pages of menus to change something as simple as White Balance. These are mostly quality of life improvements and once you set up your menu settings, you will very rarely ever go back in terms of shooting experience as I have everything that I need on the body of the camera: ISO, Aperture, Shutter. The dials feels solid and tactile, as you would expect from a Leica.

Carry Spares

The battery life will be a hit for people as the Leica M10’s BP-SCL5  battery has 1300 mAh of charge, which is noticeably smaller than the M240’s 1600 mAh battery. The difference of 300 mAh may not seem much and you should be able to hit 300 photos on one battery if you don’t use Live View (or EVF), but this is a far cry from the M240’s BP-SCL2 battery as a single one of those guys would last me all weekend.

Thumbs Up

The exposure compensation dial is just where it needs to be like the M240, but the Leica M10 has a slight curvature on the left side of the dial that acts as a pseduo thumb rest. Doesn’t seem like much, but it makes a noticeable difference in ergonomics, especially on a slimmer body like the M10. I still ended up buying a OEM Leica thumb grip and I recommend it wholeheartedly as we all know that Leica cameras were built for Lego people.

Controls at your finger tips

“…you will very rarely ever go back in terms of shooting experience as I have everything that I need on the body of the camera.”

Big Brains

The MAESTRO II processor is quick and depending on the Read/Write speed of your SD card, it’s as quick as the Leica Q on writing those DNG files. It’s capable of taking 5 shots per second on continuous which is impressive for a M camera. 

Wi-Fi is Lo-Fi

The built-in Wi-Fi feature is nice to have, but I doubt I’ll ever use it as my dedicated source of raw transfers since I prefer to use the SD card to transfer photos via iPad Pro or on the PC. The app itself is cumbersome and the transfer speeds are abysmally slow. To make matter worse, using the Wi-Fi feature absolutely destroys your battery life.

A Bakery in Richmond, VA | Leica M10 + Voigtlander 35/1.4 MC II

“…thumbs up grip is crazy expensive at $240 a pop”

Things I Don’t Like

Despite all these improvements, not everything is perfect with the M10. This may be the best digital Leica M camera to date, but there are a couple of issues I want to point out as they were noticeable that prevented the camera from winning over me completely.

Double Thumbs

The buttons on the back are big and easy to use, but it will take some time to get used to getting around the menu system if you’re coming from the M240…especially when you want to delete a photo.

You first have to press the “PLAY” button, which is one of the three primary buttons on the back, then press “MENU” to bring up the delete option since there is no dedicated delete button anymore. Then once you do that, you have to use the center button on the D-Pad to confirm your choice (what would be the INFO button on the M240). It’s not very intuitive but neither was the M240’s use of the “SET” button on the left. This is a minor issue as you’ll get use to it after a couple of days.

That ISO Dial

The new ISO dial on the left of side of the camera was one of the defining features of the M10 and while it is nice to have, I personally think it’s highly overrated. To change the ISO, you need to lift the switch up to unlock it (which surprisingly takes a bit of effort with your left fingers) and then turn the dial to your desired ISO settings, then press the dial back down until it snaps in to lock the ISO dial. I’m not of fan of this effort of using the ISO dial and practically impossible with gloves on.

I personally leave the dial unlocked and upright position while I’m shooting without the fear of accidentally bumping the dial to the wrong settings since theres enough resistance to stay in place. The constant adjustments to the ISO dial will require you to alter your grip a lot when it’s in locked position.

Also, good luck using the ISO dial in the dark as you can’t see anything. At least on the previous M240, you could easily manipulate the ISO on the LCD screen while turning the exposure compensation dial.

Overall, I think they just should have made the dial more tactile to reduce the chance of accidentally bumping the dial, a la Fujifilm X-Pro3. It’s a cool feature but I hated using it and I promise you that this feature will either be revised or removed in the next generation Leica M11 body.

The Options List

This should come to no surprise to anyone as Leica anything is expensive, but I want to point out that the accessories for the Leica M10 are noticeably more expensive than the M240. Par for the course, but here is the breakdown in costs for my recommended accessories.

Leica Thumb Grip – $240

Leica BP-SCL5 Batteries – $190 (however, cheaper than the M240 batteries)

Periscope

This is a WTF moment for me and for those that need GPS coordinates baked into their DNG files. If you want this feature, it’s only available if you use the optional Leica Visoflex EVF which costs a cool $600, which is odd to me. I never used or cared about this feature but it made me raise an eyebrow.

Image Quality

It’s strange to categorize the quality of the image output from a camera body, so I guess you can call this part the sensor’s characteristics.

The overall fidelity and tonality produced by the Leica M10 is excellent and while it may not win any DXO scores because Leica couldn’t give a shit about winning sensor awards, the overall output is absolutely beautiful. This is also very dependent on the type of glass you put in front of the sensor, but to keep things consistent, I’ve used both the 35mm and 50mm Summicron lenses to get a good reading on how the M10 likes to paint its pictures.

The M10’s DNG files have noticeable bump in saturation, and contrast straight out of camera when you upload them into Lightroom. Compared to the DNG files from the Leica Q, the output from the M10 is consistently more “colorful” with a hint of warmer tones. Another underrated improvement over its predecessor is the the white balance. How the M10 figures out its white balance is a big improvement as it is definitely more accurate compared to the M240’s yellowish tint.

The dynamic range is actually pretty good based on my experience in Lightroom. You can pull several stops on both highlights and shadows without destroying the file, and it should be satisfactory as long as you don’t expect Sony levels of dynamic range.

This doesn’t mean that you should be lazy on setting your exposure before taking the photo because a good baseline photo in RAW is much more preferable than trying to salvage your mistakes in post. A good rule of thumb is to underexpose my photos just a little bit to save the highlights during your tricky in/out lighting situations.

Expose for those highlights

This photo was heavily underexposed but the dynamic range headroom on the M10 allowed me to pull up the shadows while maintaining micro-contrast. The windows are actually looking inside the factory floor with the flood lights and not actually looking outside.

In Summary

What Leica had done here was to take a successful formula and make minor improvements to an already successful camera, but doing this also risked alienating fans. This is a known problem with any manufacturer that have a rabid fanbase with a long history (a la Porsche 911). When Leica developed the M10, it took some risks with some of these changes, but it’s easy to see that Leica went back to what they were very good and just made improvements to their existing core strengths. They understood who their base customers were and listened. It simplified the camera to its basics (it has three menu buttons for crying out loud) and took video out. While most DSLR and Mirrorless photographers will laugh at the idea of taking stuff out but charging the same price (if not more) for such a “low-tech” camera, this is not what Leica is about.

They cater to the niche and not the masses – something they’ve been doing for a long time and longer than any manufacturer.

M10 vs. M240

Now, some of you on the fence of purchasing a Leica M10 may be asking yourself if this camera was worth the upgrade over the M240?

Yes and No. Let me explain.

I came from a background of owning the following Leica cameras chronologically.

Leica M9 (Black),

Leica M9 (Steel Gray),

Leica M240 (Silver),

Leica M10 (Black),

Leica M-P 240 (Silver),

Leica M10 (Silver).

So I’ve been around the block and back and I feel as though I have some experience on this topic and for the most part, I would say no, it’s not worth the upgrade in my opinion. While the M10’s improvements are tangible, I don’t feel as though the incremental improvements are worth the premium. For example…

While the ISO dial is great, M240 owners can just as easily change their settings using the rear LCD and rear dial.

The improved viewfinder is wonderful and the magnification is great, but if you shoot between 35mm-50mm lenses, you won’t really notice it too much.

The battery life is worse on the M10.

The M240 is thicker than the M10, but I don’t think you’ll notice the difference when you’re out in the real world taking photos, especially if you use a thumb grip for both.

The improved LCD screen is nice, but I never looked at the M240’s screen and thought it was crap in 2020.

ISO Performance – if you’re not Batman and prowl the street at night often and don’t shoot a lot in low light, this is hard to justify.

This is how I feel after owning the two cameras (twice) back to back, but it’s ultimately up to you if you feel that it’s worth it to you. Otherwise, the M10 is the best digital M camera that you can get right now. With the predictable upgrades without changing the primary formula of what made the Leica M so great, it makes you wonder what the future holds for the next Leica M as we’re going to be due for an upgrade in 2022.

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[eafl id=”5421″ name=”Leica M10 Thumb” text=”Leica M10 Thumb Grip”]

[eafl id=”5267″ name=”Leica Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH II” text=”Leica Summicron 35mm f/2 ASPH II”]

[eafl id=”5282″ name=”Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.4 MC II” text=”Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.4 MC II”]

[eafl id=”5285″ name=”Voigtlander Ultron 35 f/2 Vintage” text=”Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/2 ASPH”]

  I finally review the Leica M10 and wanted to share my experience and if it's worth the upgrade over the M240 The Leica M10 Review ...yes I know it's 2020 and it's late This review was a long time coming since I had originally planned on writing this review last Spring.