#image mobile limit is gonna be the death of me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

howaminotinthestrokesyet · 4 years ago

Text

Behind The Album: Sticky Fingers

In April 1971, the Rolling Stones released their 12th studio album, Sticky Fingers. The recording of this album would mark new territory for the band in a lot of ways. Sticky Fingers would be the first album that had absolutely no participation from the late Brian Jones. This would be the first album released on their new label, Rolling Stones Records. The record would be the first major effort from new guitarist,Mick Taylor. He had participated on the previous album, but on a limited basis. The timing of the album was important as well because it would be the first major work from the band since the disaster at Altamont Speedway. Many things had changed in music since the new decade began.

An important factor that played a large part in the recording of the album was the fact that the band had tremendous tax issues at the time. They had learned that their manager Allen Klein had not been paying their taxes, even though he told them he was doing so. This meant that each member of the band owed quite a bit of money in back taxes to the government. Mick Jagger would later say, “I just didn’t think about taxes and no manager I ever had thought about it, even though they said they were going to make sure my taxes were paid. So after working for seven years I discovered nothing had been paid and I owed a fortune.” One of the first steps came in the band firing Allen Klein. Yet, this did little to minimize their money issues because unbeknownst to the band they had signed over copyrights in America to all their 1960’s material. Klein’s company Abkco Records now held ownership and received all royalties for their music. This financial catastrophe meant that they needed to release new music in order to make any money from the recordings. For this reason, Rolling Stones records was created to begin the process of getting the band out of debt. They needed to retain ownership of their music in order to maximize any kind of profit. After detaching themselves from Allen Klein, Prince Rupert Loewenstein was hired as the group's new financial manager. Looking back now, they finally found someone that would not rob them blind. Atlantic Records was hired to license all of their music, while Marshall Chess of Chess Records would handle the business side of the label. They seemed to trust his background as the president of a hardworking blues label more than anything else. There was a lot riding on this album financially for the band because if it did not sell, then things would go from bad to worse for each member personally.

The recording of Sticky Fingers actually began during their tour of the United States in 1969. They made a visit two muscle Shoals in Alabama because some of their favorite music was recorded there. During this time, the band recorded three songs, “Brown Sugar,” “Wild Horses,” and “You Gotta Move.” Keith Richards with later talk about those sessions in an interview. “The session] one of the easiest and rockingest sessions we’d ever done. I don’t think we’ve been quite so prolific… ever. Those sessions were as vital to me as any I’ve ever done. I mean, all the other stuff we did – ‘Beggars Banquet’, ‘Gimme Shelter’, ‘Street Fighting Man’, ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ – I’ve always wondered that if we had cut them at Muscle Shoals, if they might have been a little bit funkier.” Yet, the recording of the album would take more than a year. The band did not reconvene for more tracks until March 1970 at Mick Jagger‘s estate, Stargroves. He did not have a studio in his house, but instead they used a mobile recording unit. They would use the same thing on the next album, which essentially carried around in a van all the equipment in the sound booth at a recording studio. This unit also allowed the band to record any musicians that just stopped by for a visit. One reason the album took so long was because the material they made during this period was so outstanding. If a song did not end up on Sticky Fingers, then they decided to use it for Exile on Main Street.

Unlike their other releases, this album embodied straight rock and roll. They did not experiment with country, gospel, or anything else for this record. Looking at it in hindsight, this is precisely why people love this album, while critics had mixed reactions about it. The one thing the band did introduce with this album was their new guitarist Mick Taylor. He became a revelation musically because Taylor stood out as the most technically skilled guitarist in the band's history. Keith Richards even said in an interview that the guitar part on “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” could not be played by him. The guitarist also brought a much more melodic guitar as opposed to Brian Jones previously. This would not be the Rolling Stones, if they did not have any issues at all in the recording of the album. During this time, Keith Richards began to gradually descend into complete and utter heroin addiction. At times, he was so intoxicated during recording they had to abandon completely certain takes. The delay of the album probably had much more to do with his heroin addiction, rather than the amount of material they were producing. Richards would later comment on why he began using the drug. “It was] the periods with nothing to do that got me into heroin. It was more of an adrenaline imbalance. You have to be an athlete out there, but when the tour stops, suddenly your body don’t know there ain’t a show the next night. The body is saying, ‘What am I gonna do, leap out in the street?’ It was a very hard readjustment. And I found smack made it much easier for me to slow down very smoothly and gradually.” At one point during the recording, things got so bad that Mick Jagger filled in for him on the song “Moonlight Mile.” At no point previously would that have even been imagined. This would become quite the conundrum for the band considering the fact that they had just fired Brian Jones for this exact reason. Another interesting aspect of Sticky Fingers was the fact that Gram Parsons did a country version of “Wild Horses” one year before the album was even released for his band. There exist differing accounts on how it all transpired. Jagger and Richards were totally fine with the release of the song. Before his death, Parsons would say in interviews that the song was a gift to him for helping them with country rock songs like “Country Honk” on Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed. The track is very different from the one the band released, and some critics even argue that the Parsons version is better.

One of the things about Sticky Fingers is that the art associated with the album became just as important as the music. Andy Warhol designed the cover of the album, which was a pair of pants with a working zipper. The first albums had the zipper pull all the way down to reveal white underwear. These albums are collectors items today because they eventually had to switch to a plain photograph. The metal from the zippers was damaging the records when they were stacked in trucks to be delivered. Unfortunately, nobody really knows for sure who the model is on the cover of the album. Some have suspected that it is Joe Johnson, the brother of Warhol's lover at the time. The other iconic piece of art released with this album came in the introduction of the Rolling Stones signature tongue. This has become the most recognizable image for their brand. You probably cannot live in this country without having seen it at least once. The inspiration for it came to Jagger via calendar he owned about Indian culture. “I was looking for a logo when we started Rolling Stones Records. I had this calendar on my wall, it was an Indian calendar, which you’ll see in Indian grocery stores, and it’s the goddess Kali, which is the very serious goddess of carnage and so forth. And she has, apart from her body, this tongue that sticks out. So I took that to John Pasche and he ‘modernized’ it somewhat.”

Upon its release, critics had very mixed reactions towards the album. The main flaw that some found it possessing came in the fact that it underwhelmed. This issue represented what these critics have come to love about the band's more recent efforts. On Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed, the Stones had experimented quite a bit with their sound venturing off into new areas. Yet, Sticky Fingers did not go in those places, but instead stayed fairly close to basic rock and roll. This emerges as an age old story with a lot of bands. You must do something different in order to impress the critics because they will often say I have already listened to that. The album became the band's most popular one to date as it went number one in both England and America. That fact should actually be the true testament on how good the band's album is overall.

3 notes · View notes

callmederok · 5 years ago

Text

Let me get out of my system

and by “system” i mean “brain” Thanks to @flowerslightning for encouraging me

Recently i started to obsess over FF7 (not the remake, for that, I’ve to wait next year...so i can play it on PC, because i don’t have a console)

In particular, similarities between Kingdom Hearts and FF7 (i mean of course they’ve similarities/references they’re both from the same software house and almost the same writers and designers) so i wanna list the one i noticed (feel free to add the ones you noticed in the comments/reblogs):

1. Skuld from Union Cross is incredibly similar to Tifa, and they share(to an extent) similar roles, Tifa watches over Cloud, Skuld does the same for Ephemer first(because in the browser game he disappears) and then Player/MC(who during Union Cross for Mobile has nightmares and flashbacks, pretty much like Cloud) and now two images, one of Skuld and one of Tifa

Both have long hair, an earring, similar eye-colour, both pretty confident, similar personalities...and funny as it is, similar like Tifa and Cloud, Skuld hangs out with Player close to water(Tifa and Cloud sit close to a water tank in Nibelheim, Skuld and Player sit on the border of a fountain in Daybreak Town)

2. In a way MC/Player(in the novel the protagonist is called Player) can relate to Zack, they both wanted to be somehow heroic(Player doesn’t speak very often in the game, but he/she genuinely wants to help people and avoid their joining in the keyblade war) aside from the fact that Player survives at the end(thanks to Ephemer and Skuld) both Zack and Player end like this at some point:

Then we have the remake where Zack apparently walks out from the hills outside Midgar with Cloud while Player simply faints and probably get carried by Ephemer and Skuld and put in the Virtual Daybreak Town along with the other Dandelions(Keyblade Wielders who didn’t join the war and they ran away into this virtual Town with no memories of the War. Player never joined the Dandelions, got proposed by their leader but he/she refused because he/she wanted to help their friends who didn’t get the invite)

2.5 - Player doesn’t have a girlfriend but there is a character that was searching for him for the sake of making him/her join the Dandelions (although Skuld failed herself to convince Player and she is Player’s best friend along with Ephemer who also failed in this) and while Aerith didn’t really search for Zack but simply waited for him until she dies(in the original game), but this similarity is more about Aerith and this the character that searched for Player, named Strelitzia, Aerith sells flowers, she is decently good with magic(i mean, her Limits are all about healing and buffing, i say decently but she is bloody OP in that) and she loves Zack meanwhile Strelitzia is the name of a flower! She is also very talented in magic...and in the new Japanese chapters/cutscenes of KHUx, Strelitzia’s brother teases her about having a crush over Player and she reacts in the classical adorable shy way but it’s in Japanese and in NA/EU we don’t have those chapters yet, so we must trust our eastern friends on this part. (not gonna lie, i sort of ship PlayerxStrelitzia but both characters never really interacted with each other and Strelitzia was more of a cute-stalker or the classic “after that nice but surprising thing you did, i start to notice you everywhere but i was too shy to talk to you” kind of girl).

So yeah Plalitzia = Zerith(to a certain degree)

youtube

3 - Okay Player surviving the Keyblade War sounds fine, right? Nope, because the poor guy ended up in this Virtual DayBreak Town brainwashed like Cloud brainwashed himself because Zack’s death, Cloud has flashbacks and hallucinations while he is awake, Player has nightmares where he relives the horrible war but Ephemer and Skuld check over Player time to time, the same way Tifa acts concerned every time Cloud has flashbacks and hallucinations during the game.

4 - Apparently the Keyblade War shattered the world, creating the Galaxy/Universe that Sora&Friends know and travel through. It’s not the important part just some backstory that i think it’s relevant. This event basically pushed far away the various pieces that the Old World was composed of. From KH3 we know that the Original DayBreak Town changed(/ended in ruins for a while) becoming what Xehanort calls Scala ad Caelum, so we can agree that like Tifa and Cloud saw Nibelheim burning to the ground, Ephemer, Player, Skuld and every other survivor of the Keyblade War lost their hometown(although they’re living in a virtual version of it...but apparently most of them will get out of it, soon...based on spoilers, twitters and new games announcements from Square-Enix and stuff we already knew about bc the many KH’s games)

4.5 - In theory like Tifa and Cloud, all the keyblade wielders are parentless(they’re orphans) because some bad event from the past, not sure if it’s retconned but the tales about Player&Co’s era are all about “how the kids’ light saved the world”

Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived... in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And the true light will return. So listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away.

youtube

Not sure which side of the timeline she meant, but in KHUx (in a flashback) we learn that before Player’s Keyblade War there was another Keyblade War...so this point is probably either retconned or never mentioned...but what about the adults? Aside from the Union Leaders(Ira, Ava, Invi, Gula, Aced), Luxu and the Master of Master there are no adults around...and i believe they somehow disappeared or died in the Master of Master’s Keyblade War...so yeah KHUx’s characters and Tifa+Cloud share the same sad status of being orphans at some point...(wow depressing point and not so similar...like it’s a stretch XD)

5 - So back to Player and Ephemer, they exchange the roles of being Zack and Cloud a lot, Player starts with the role of “Zack”(i mean the end of the keyblade war party) and Ephemer with the role of “Cloud” before the end of the keyblade war but after the event, they switch because Ephemer(+ Skuld) becomes the Zack of the situation (watching over Cloud/Player)

#Comparison #FF7 vs KHUx #Kingdom Hearts Union X #Final Fantasy 7 #Possible Spoilers #khux

7 notes · View notes

cedarmoons · 6 years ago

Note

do you have tips for creating memorable oc's? yours are always great

this ask is perfectly timed because I’ve recently played the mobile game Stellamore by @willowishstudios (available now on iOS and Android!) and I’ve FALLEN IN LOVE. Cipactli babe… call me… (jk i’ll call u 😏😘)

So! Let’s go overboard in answering this ask and create a brand new OC for Stellamore, step-by-step! Under the cut for length. :)

My method of creating OCs is like a toddler fiddling with building blocks. I start with a base and build from there, adding rooms, removing towers, etc., as I see fit, until I have a basic structure that passes as a castle. It should be mentioned that @vide0-nasties has been instrumental in helping me develop my MCs in various ways, and I love her to pieces!

First Step: Inspiration

So before I decide anything about my OC, personality, name, etc, I look at inspirations: what is in the game, and what can I build off of it? The devs have helpfully provided some inspirations for the Stellamore world, so that’s what I’m going to use as a launching pad. Initially, I looked at Halle, who has clear Scandinavian influences, and I was like “nice… viking girl…” but I did further lore delving and I don’t think Halle is human lmfao so THAT was out! Back to the drawing board.

Ooh, okay, so there’s Roman influences, clearly seen in the character Seneca, who is human… okay. Great. Let’s make this MC fantasy Roman! That gives me my foundation of building blocks.

Second Step: Name

So the Oracle, Stellamore’s MC, receives visions from the stars. Knowing this, I was like, “Dope… let’s look at some mythology names, because Roman influence, and try to narrow those down to celestial/sky deity names.”

So I went to good ol’ Wikipedia’s list of names, and here were some of my initial impressions:

Aditi’s a pretty name, but that’s the name of a Hindu goddess, and MC’s fantasy Roman. Questionable decision. Out.

Urania’s the muse of astronomy, so it fits thematically, but there are unfortunate implications within the name. I can name her Ourania to get rid of the unfortunate “ur anus” implications, but that’s a bit of a mouthful? Hmm. No. Next.

Asteria is an old Greek goddess of the stars… nice… wait, I already have like 3 OCs with A names. Let’s diversify. Out.

Phoebe is a Greek Titaness of prophecy and related to Titaness Theia (!!), mother of Asteria. Good placeholder name, but a little too modern for my tastes. We’ll see.

Eventually I settled on Maris, which means “of the sea” and has nothing to do with the stars or astronomy &etc. I don’t know how I jumped to Maris from sky deity names, but it’s pretty and it’s Latin, so Maris is her name!

Third Step: Faceclaim/Appearance

I always try to find faceclaims for my OCs as a springboard. Back when I was thinking “hhh Viking Gorl” as my baseline, I found pictures of María Valverde as Lucrezia Borgia and I was like “oh,,,, nice,,,” and looked up María outside of that role. María is still not a lock in for Maris, but she’s influenced her looks! Outside of that, I wanted to make some tweaks.

One thing I wanted for sure: black hair and brown eyes (romanticize brown eyes!! every one of my OCs has brown eyes except Ziah and I will regret not giving her brown eyes to my dying day)

Second thing I wanted: thanks to Ms. Valverde, I wanted Maris to have a big beautiful nose and oval face!

Third thing I have just as of right now decided about her appearance, suddenly and without warning: she’s gonna have moles on her face. no freckles, just moles. (bonus: Cipactli counts them and LOVES THEM ALL. My babe…… I’ll call u….)

Rags (@vide0-nasties) was kind enough to let me pick the height for her Oracle, Petra, so she picked Maris’s height, which is now 5′8″.

Fourth Step: Personality and/or Backstory

This is the least fleshed out because I decided to make Maris yesterday (11/12) after replaying Stellamore and trawling through the blog’s Cipactli tag for that sweet sweet lore about my newest love. But here were my initial goals for Maris:

Theia make an OC who’s not an ice queen (at the start) challenge

Theia make an OC who’s not depressed and/or anxious challenge

Theia make an OC who’s not an introvert challenge

Theia make an OC who’s not afraid of her emotions challenge

So that’s fine. Again, I need a springboard for Maris. I’ve decided since she’s an Oracle, and Oracles have connections to the stars for unknown but undoubtedly cool reasons, she will be an Air sign (completing the cycle of Ziah’s Earth, Ariala’s Fire, and Adelaide’s Water) – which limits me to Libra, Aquarius, and Gemini. Okay, well, let’s google some “basic traits” of all of these signs. I want Maris to have sun or star symbolism, because Ziah and Adelaide are my Moon Girls and Ariala’s my Sun Girl, so I can either balance it (making her a Sun symbol) or complete the triad (making her a Star symbol).

Here was my thought process researching this:

“Libras can be emotionally cold” oof… no… that would fail my non-ice queen challenge, let’s move on to Aquarius (who can also be cold I have discovered through another search with Google Images)

Oh, Aquarius seems extroverted! I like these basic traits, and it makes sense since Mukondi is Maris’s friend and an extrovert. Both succeeds my “non ice queen” and “non introvert” challenges. Depression and/or anxiety… I’m coming for u bitches…

Oh hey what’s Cipactli’s sign

OH HE’S A LIBRA

OH AQUARIUS AND LIBRA ARE COMPATIBLE JACKPOT

I put a lot of stock in astrology even though I know I shouldn’t

Okay I’ve decided to give her Sun iconography to balance it, I can make Star ocs later. This means she will wear a lot of gold/summer tones.

Also hey Cipactli’s religion focuses a lot on the sun

U know what this means………….. religious iconography during sex…… symbolism……..

anyway Cipactli my love i’m so sorry idk if ur religious or not and if u are I apologize for the blasphemy

But if ur not….. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Ms. Valverde’s smile in many pictures is kinda smirk-y, so maybe that’s something to incorporate about Maris: she doesn’t smile, she smirks. What kind of sense of humor would that give her? A wry one? A dry one (which isn’t the same thing necessarily)? What does this phrase – that she doesn’t smile, she smirks – imply about her character? Is she smug? Self-assured? Sarcastic? Detached from others? (NO! She can’t be detached because then I will fail my “don’t make an ice queen” challenge!)

Her personality will still need fleshing out – I will need more to work with than “oh she’s extroverted!” and “oh she’s friendly/sunny!” She will need flaws that are more complex. Since I chose the “bold” option when approaching Cipactli, maybe… HMM… okay, let’s make Maris bold. This makes her unafraid of conflict, but can also make her brash and/or arrogant and/or potentially hot-tempered! She can also be insufferably smug when she’s right, which is often, because of her Oracle abilities (idk!)

Another springboard I’ll use is looking up MBTI types, but those usually come after I’ve made my OC and just need more development.

As for her backstory, here were some things I decided upon, fiddling with my growing castle made out of wooden building blocks:

Okay she’s fantasy Roman… what if… she grew up on a vineyard & winery

And her dad was the vineyard’s owner

A mom? No. Single dad. Who knows where the Mom went. No, that could give her mom issues, let’s not do that. Mom died in childbirth or illness?

So now Maris is the daughter of a vineyard owner, which means she would probably know a fair amount about wine, which means she has excellent (and/or: snobby) taste in wine.

She also loves nature because she grew up in it, which means she would LOVE Huatzintepec. Oh hey, Cipactli’s room is full of plants, another reason for Maris (and me) to love him

I’ve just decided she has an older brother

No, younger

No, she has two brothers, one older and one younger. She’s the middle child. This means Mom died in childbirth to the younger brother and made Dad a Single Roman Dad.

Dad funded her education because if she was educated she could a) help her brothers operate the winery/vineyard after his death; b) make a career in politics and further the family name (haven’t decided a surname yet, let’s google Roman surnames, ooh here’s a list of ancient Roman surnames on Wikipedia – OKAY, I have it, Maris Viridius of the Gens Viridia); c) marry a well-off fantasy Roman businessman??

Instead Maris became a diplomat, which is how she met Mukondi, and since they’re both friendly extroverts they became fast friends

Since she’s a diplomat and educated she probably speaks a bunch of languages,,, oh look here’s a list of how many languages the cast speaks [clicks tongue] noice,,, okay so she would speak at least 3 (three) languages: Latin, Common, Greek, and know some basic Nahuatl

How does her backstory influence her personality, because pasts always have a vast impact on characters’ (and our own) personalities? Well, maybe she’s a little bit elitist because of her upper class upbringing. Maybe her work as a diplomat has allowed her to visit every one of the human kingdoms, and has made her down to earth. Maybe she was so cooped up in her studies that she became sheltered, or a bookworm, or both – which would give her another point of commonality with Cipactli.

All of these are reasonable possibilities, and all of these are little building blocks I can assemble together to shape my OC and develop her further!

So now I have Maris Viridius, of Gens Viridia, who:

has black hair, black eyes, lots of moles, a big beautiful nose and an oval face (thus, rounded features)

is an Aquarius

is unafraid to be bold, even if it comes across as arrogance; is unafraid to challenge authority; is also aware, as a diplomat, when to hold her tongue or when to be polite (her job might also make her a good liar? things to ponder for the future!)

is an optimist and an extrovert; thrives off of meeting new people and making new friends; has a good, albeit sarcastic, sense of humor

is gonna cash in Cipactli’s v-card, but tenderly, because soft otps are my jam

I have to do more development with Maris, but here is her skeleton, built out of blocks! I might just write some stuff for her and Cipactli in the future because I have seen two (2) Stellamore fics, one on Tumblr and one on Ao3, which is a tragedy.

Anyway, I know I went overboard, but I hope this helps and gives insight into my process as to how I write my OCs! :)

#Anonymous #writing tips #long post #you GUYS im in LOVE with STELLAMORE #maris

40 notes · View notes

animebw · 6 years ago

Text

Binge-Watching: Soul Eater, Episodes 46-48

It’s the penultimate stretch! In which a worrisome question finds a relieving answer, we get the most gloriously stupid stunt this show has ever pulled, and Asura’s fear takes center stage.

For the Best

I’ve spoken at length before about how I feel like the “plot” elements of Soul Eater are easily its weakest elements. This series was designed from the ground up to be a showcase for stylish animation and lovable character interactions with a warm, humanistic approach to their struggles; the banal paperwork of mechanical structure don’t slot easily into that already packed framework. And as much as I’ve been enjoying this massive final arc, I’ve had a nagging worry that mysteries of all the unanswered questions- Death’s secrets, Eibon, Arachne’s goals- were going to end up dragging the whole affair down once they finally took the spotlight. These subplots have just never been that interesting to me; they lack the raw emotional power of, say, Maka overcoming her fears or Crona’s path to redemption. Would the story finally crumble under their weight once they finally came into focus?

Thankfully, Soul Eater manages to sidestep the problem of its plot not being very interesting in a way that’s kind of infuriatingly genius; it doesn’t have it amount to anything. The big twist is that Death was never some grand Machievellian schemer with a secret dark side; he was just putting together a last-ditch plan that he didn’t want to take any risk of the enemy finding out about. Eibon? Turns out he’s a pretty chill guy who regretted partnering with Arachne, so he put a failsafe into his final project- the Brew- so that only his soul could open it, which DK just retrieved from the lost city. And the Brew itself? Turns out it’s literally just a magical hand-wave artifact that can do whatever the user wants it to. These are the stupidest, laziest possible answers to the underlying mysteries they solve, and that’s honestly kind of the perfect way to solve them. If the show tried to make something meaningful out of them, it would almost certainly fall flat on its face; the structure just isn’t strong enough to support a dramatic conspiracy unraveling. And Soul Eater seems aware of that. Like I said, it works best in simplicity and clarity; that’s always been where its heart lies, and that’s always where it returns to in the end. So instead, it takes the simple route and uses all these points for one very simple purpose: to justify a single, climactic setpiece.

And holy fucking shit, what a setpiece it is.

Just Who the Hell Do You Think I Am?

I have praised this show’s imagination time and time again. The strength of the kind of “good-enough” shows that Soul Eater emulates is their ability to use the inherent simplicity of their constructions as jumping off points to let their imaginations run wild with possibility. The stunning Halloween aesthetic trappings, the ridiculous creativity of of the battles, this show knows how to go the extra mile and blow your mind with images and scenarios you’ve never seen visualized in quite this way before. It’s given me plenty of tableaus that are gonna stick in my mind for quite some time to come, and I’m constantly delighted by the bewitching images it’s able to conjure up.

But this one really takes the cake.

Sweet. Buttery. Christmas. Of all the directions I was expecting this finale to go, Full Gurren Lagann wasn’t one of them. But here we are: Lord Death uses the brew to circumvent the fact that he’s technically bound within city limits to turn the city itself into a mobile colossus and takes it to kick ass on the field of battle. And it’s fucking AMAZING. Suddenly, the entire fight turns into a freaking Super Robot shot, with this ramshackle mecha facing off against a literal spider tank, smacking at each other like a goddamn Itchy and Scratchy cartoon. It’s the single goofiest possible direction we could’ve gone in, and I completely, unabashedly adore it. I was in fucking stitches the entire time. I love how wobbly and rickety the Death City mecha is, like it really was a hastily constructed last resort by someone with no idea how mechas are built. I love how everyone else is as completely gobsmacked by this thing’s appearance as I was. I love that final moment when the city somehow gobbles Asura back up like it’s a fucking Titan. This is what a Soul Eater finale should look like. Not complicated conspiracy nonsense that nobody really cares about, but giant bug swatting and Coffee Table Flips. This is the kind of nonsense that makes this show at its best such a goddamn blast, and I’m so glad to see Soul Eater go all the way with its ludicrous tendencies one last time. Pour one out, show. You deserve it.

BlackStar’s Path

Now, that’s not to say that the dramatic side of things is a slouch either. As much praise as I can level at the goofier moments of this show, we all know that it’s never better than when it’s ripping my heartstrings out of my chest and jamming on them like an electric guitar. To that end, it was about time for BlackStar to get some closure on the unresolved issues he’s been quietly dealing with just underneath the surface throughout the entire show. I’ll admit, I did struggle a little at first to get invested in his rivalry with Mifune. There just didn’t seem to be that much of an interesting dynamic between them, no real effort to make them foils or mirrors or anything like that. But once Mifune starts spilling his backstory, things get a lot clearer and a lot more interesting. Mifune is familiar with the Star Clan that BlackStar comes from, the clan he’s always distanced himself from to carve his own way forward. He knows firsthand how cruel this kid’s family could be, how callous and uncaring they were towards the harm they caused. And he sees that same potential for fury and blood in BlackStar himself, realized in a gorgeous cross-cutting sequence of past and future showing how similarly Mifune views BlackStar and his ancestors. As much as he rejects his family’s evil, as much as he tries to cast them aside, BlackStar’s brashness, his pride, and his hatred of losing all stem from that dark past. He’s not as free from their influence as he’d like to think.

But he’s never let that stop him before. He’s never let the fear of coming up short to himself stop him from trying his damndest anyway. Even back during his first big mission with Tsubaki, it was clear that out of all our protagonists, he was perhaps the most confident in his ability to keep pressing forward, no matter how many hurdles he found in his way. He has too much faith in his potential for good for anything else. And he’s not about to accept Mifune’s dichotomy. He doesn’t think perfection and corruption are the only options for someone who fights. He’ll keep fighting and keep losing and keep trying again and again, and he’ll find his own way through this mess of a life. Even if he’s sundered and trapped by the wailing souls of warriors whose paths ended in tragedy and regret (side note, I love it whenever this show goes full Eva mindfuck, because it’s always stunningly beautiful), he’ll shoulder all their burdens for them and let them propel him to victory. However long that victory may be in coming, he’ll reach it all the same. And he’ll reach it his own way, offering mercy to Mifune once the battle is over; he isn’t the scion of blood and vengeance his family wanted. He is nothing more or less than BlackStar, and he won’t let anyone take that stage from him. Tsubaki, you got yourself one hell of a partner.

The Only Thing to Fear

And then, at long last, there’s Asura’s re-match with Death in the bowels of the city ship after it swallowed him and belched (seriously, I am never gonna get over how fucking ludicrous that entire sequence was). If there’s one thing that becomes blisteringly clear over the course of this fierce duel, it’s that Asura is 100% the perfect final boss for this show. As I’ve talked about extensively before, our heroes’ biggest struggles have all revolved around fear that leads to apathy, shutting yourself off from possibility and hurting yourself and everyone around you in the process. And Asura is the logical endpoint of all those fears, summed up in a single sentence: ”I don’t care if there’s nothing, as long as there’s no fear.” Asura is cowardice incarnate, willing to destroy the world with madness if that’s what it takes to hide away from everything that could possibly scare him. He’s literally shut his own imagination down, turning himself into an empty vessel driven by the simple desire to cleanse away all irritants. In a lot of ways, he and Death are parallel figures. They both try to block out the harsh reality of the world, one with lies and deception, the other with destruction and “purification”. Both of them are too scared to do what the kids are doing and face their fears head-on, to challenge what makes them scared and push through to what lies beyond. And Asura is denial taken to its largest possible extreme; he will slaughter anything and anyone in his way if it gives him an excuse to avoid facing those truths. He’ll even devour Arachne, the one person who was ever nice to him, because her mere presence in his life terrifies him that he might end up once again caring about something deeply enough that it will hurt to lose it. What a sad, pathetic, fittingly banal end to a banal villain who was only ever a plot device.

But he’s in for a rough awakening once Maka, Soul, BlackStar, and all the rest finally catch up to him. Because they have proven that denial wrong time and time again. They’ve faced what scares them and come out stronger for it, stronger than Asura, for all his lasers and magical circles, could ever be. Bring it on, kids. Bring this crazy ride home. Show this monster that the only thing we have to fear it fear itself. I look forward to seeing how you bid this show farewell.

Odds and Ends

-OH GOD FUCKING DAMMIT WHY IS DIO HERE

-”Now you’re just avoiding the question.” pfft

-”Why does everything sound like a lie when he talks?” A fair question, all things considered.

-Whoever animated that one red, pencil-line sakuga cut as Mifune strikes BlackStar down, just know that I appreciate you. Holy fuck, that was cool.

-”I’m at a loss for words.” “But you’re talking right now.” snrk

-Also: MAKA’S FACE ASKJDHASKJDAHSDASD

-Oh god why is Asura a handsome bad boy

-”I did that on purpose!” Sure, Jan.

-I see you, Yin Yang symbol from Death and Asura’s soul lengths. Very subtle.

-Holy shit, Angela is literally a female BlackStar. Get wrecked.

And so, we’ve arrived at the grand finale. This show’s been a really fun ride, and I can’t wait to see how it ends. See you all next time for the epic conclusion to Soul Eater!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #soul eater #maka albarn

3 notes · View notes

acidcorrodes · 7 years ago

Text

Update:

It’s been two weeks. Here’s what I see:

There’s still no electricity pretty much anywhere. Some hospitals have it, but very few of them, and most all in the east, in the metro area. Some areas of the west have it too, but by no means a significant portion of the population. People are dying because there’s no electricity to run medical machinery with. Most hospitals that are working are using diesel-powered generators that were never meant to be running 24/7 so some are starting to break down.

There’s very poor or no cellphone signal. I’m lucky I have some, but it’s slow to the point I can’t actually call anyone most of the time, and text messages take ages to send. People are coming from far away areas of the island to the few places that do have cell signal. People are stopping in the middle of the highways to catch some signal, in an attempt to be able to tell their loved ones that they are okay.*

They say half the people have running water now. I would like to know where the fuck. Most people I’ve asked, most people I’ve heard talking or seen posting habe no running water or- if, like me, they’re lucky- have it at unpredictable moments. We had water in my house last monday, then a couple days later for about 45min, then yesterday for 2 days. Always low pressure, to the point that to do anything with it, you need to wait for a bucket to fill. We have no water right now. Supposedly the interruptions would be scheduled for every 24 hours, but this has not been the case. Right now, I don’t know for how long we’ll have no water. There are entire towns that have not had water service back at all, especially mountain towns (most of our towns, actually) that only just now are beginning to be able to clear out roads leading into and out of town.

People are stealing fuel from cars, power generators… you name it. They don’t care about anything except cash money and fuel. If they find water and food, they’ll take that too. But I’m talking: people have legit left behind iPads in favor of taking with them $20 cash and a tankfull of fuel.

There’s no ice. That’s fine when it’s rainy like the past 2-3 days, but when it isn’t? People can die from heat too, particularly because there’s very little water to hydrate with. Even if there were ice, there’s no power to run a freezer with, so you can’t keep it cold for long.

The governor lifted the prohibition on the sale of alcohol and made it illegal for gas stations to limit how much fuel you buy at once (so that now people have to be allowed to fill their car’s gas tank all the way up if they wanna). This has helped reduce the lines to about 2hr long in some places, when it used to take the entire day. The sale of alcohol helps move the economy and helps people chill out for a bit- literally and metaphorically.

Some schools are opening again, but very few, and I don’t know that attendance will be particularly great nowadays.

The UPR (our public university system) hasn’t given a start date for resuming classes again. At this point, half the campuses have been incommunicated. The ones we do know of aren’t doing very well in terms of damage to property.

We’ve heard very little of the west of the island.

Very few local AM and FM stations work, only one local tv station works (channel 2) as far as I know.

Very few people have wifi. I don’t have wifi; I’m posting this with my phone’s mobile network- hoping it posts at all.

Curfew is 9pm-5am. Anyone outside past then can get arrested. Some exceptions are made, such as emergency personnel, people working in food and water distribution, telecomm, and similarly important tasks.

People are stuck at the airports. The international one that everyone normally leaves and arrives at is handling very few flights per day (dont know how many it is now, but it used to be 10 per day) and many flights are military or relief cargo. Last I heard, no international flights were scheduled. Don’t know if that has changed. Prices for tickets to Florida went up from $300 the round trip to $2000. Many flights are getting cancelled. People want to leave, but we’re pretty much stuck here.

As far as destruction goes: trees are leafless or torn down, to the point where I don’t recognize the landscape anymore. It looks like when trees shed their leaves for winter, coupled with how a fire makes them collapse or break. I don’t know how else to describe it. I can see things now that I have never seen before because trees blocked their view, and it feels so wrong. Many places flooded. The images on tv that I imagine y'all saw (because we’ve had very few pictures from around here, much less video, except on facebook for those who can login and what’s on tv, which isnt much) are of places that have poor construction or built in areas where it is forbidden due to the flood hazard. That’s why you see houses filled all the way with water. But everywhere else, places that have never been flooded did get flooded, and the water has caused giant mudslides in mountain towns, to the point where people have been unable to get out of their houses and help cannot get to them because everything’s blocked. In addition to that, most structures with zinc roof lost their roof in the storm, wooden structures collapsed, but concrete houses held up pretty good as far as I’ve been able to see. (I, thankfully, live in a concrete house.) El Yunque is destroyed. Most mountains are gray and leafless now, but the people near them, like me, are grateful that they blocked the winds some.

Distribution of stuff in the ports is beginning, I think. We’ve seem gas trucks driving around and delivering to gas stations. The aid you’re sending is in Puerto Rico, it’s just not being properly distributed or is hard to distribute due to the state of things.

You can mail stuff to people directly because some post offices are open, but there’s no delivery to houses so the person you mailed to has to go to the post office to pick up the package.

Trump is supposedly gonna come to the island today. Uh…. well then. Dude should know we need the cabotage laws lifted for more than just 10 days for it to be helpful at all, and he should send the help we need rather than send a minimal amount, late, and blaming us for everything. We’re not lazy, man. Everyone I’ve seen or heard of has helped to pick up from the disaster in one way or another. We also have no use for that golf trophy, so keep it.

Seriously, at this point, we don’t care who or where aid comes from. We just need it to come here. We also need help rebuilding the power grid, which is down completely. Like… I’m talking even concrete poles that carry big power lines fell to the ground and broke like they’re made of cookies or something. The 6 months without power estimate is believable. I can see it being longer than that in some places, even.

Editing this in: There's also been a rise in the suicide and murder rates. Additionally, it seems the death toll from the hurricane is being underreported by the government. People are saying hospital morgues are full. People are burying loved ones in their backyards due to lack of resources for proper burials.

We are US citizens. This is US territory. We matter, dammit, please hear us.

*Okay means not dead. For me, because I’m lucky, it means I also have a roof to sleep under and food and water for a couple of days, plus access to supplies when we start running out of them. For many people, it is not so.

#ooc #hurricane maria #puerto rico #psa #update

43 notes · View notes

biofunmy · 5 years ago

Text

CES over now, so onto Samsung Galaxy, new iPhones, 8K TVs and more

Most of the products introduced at the just concluded CES will never see the light of day.

That electric car from Sony? A concept. That new augmented reality software that shows you what you would look like if you actually shed some pounds – as you work out? Just a prototype.

So let’s move on to the real things, actual products that will be released. Like next month. And in calendar 2020.

Samsung Galaxy S10 (Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Say hello to Samsung’s next premium Galaxy phone lineup. The company is staging a press event on Feb. 11 in San Francisco to introduce the phones, expected to be called the S11. Last year, the S10 family of phones were released in the first week of March, so that’s a pretty good bet for the first major tech device of 2020.

The Apple iPhone is the world’s best-selling tech device, with sales of 185 million units in 2019, according to Wedbush Securities, while some 30 million Galaxy phones were sold.

The Mobile World Congress show opens in Barcelona on Feb. 24, and like CES, it attracts all the big players – except Apple. But unlike CES, most of the new products introduced and displayed there – like the next Galaxy, and phones from OneTouch, Huawei and others – will actually be released during the same calendar year, says Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies.

When Samsung released the S10, it was one of the first phones to include three camera lenses instead of two, with an additional super wide-angle perspective. Apple ended up copying that feature when it released its iPhone 11 Pro series in the fall.

Of the best-sellers from 2019, Apple’s products were released in March (the iPad Mini) September, (iPhones) and Oct. 30th for the AirPods Pro.

Amazon began shipping its updated Echo speakers in October and Google released the Pixel 4 smartphone on Oct. 24.

Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, expects Apple to have a spring event to debut a new, lower price and small iPhone. It would replace the discontinued SE, which had a 4-inch screen and was based on an older iPhone design.

Most of the real products that will see the light of day from CES are television-related.

The new streaming services Quibi ($4.99, with ads) and HBO Max ($14.99 monthly) both exhibited at CES and say they will be available and April and May, respectively.

Beyond that, Sony, Samsung, LG and others showed off their new 8K TV sets, offering way greater resolution than your current 4K model, with an expected heftier price tag as well.

These companies missed two very important details in their product reveals – pricing and availability. We can only assume some might be out this year, as traditionally, TV manufacturers announce the sets at CES and release them in the spring.

But here’s a good guide – they ain’t gonna be cheap.

Samsung has an 88-inch 8K model from 2018 that’s currently available, and it will only cost you $15,000.

Remember that, on Black Friday, many 50-inch 4K sets were selling in the $300 range.

The Lenovo Thinkpad X1 laptop that rolls up and bends at will was one of USA TODAY columnist Marc Saltzman’s favorites from the show. It has a price tag – a whopping $2,499 and a vague release date of “mid-2020.”

So start saving up now.

In other tech news this week

Sonos, the scrappy maker of Wi-Fi speakers, sued Google for allegedly stealing its intellectual property and called for an immediate cease and desist of Google selling speakers, phones and tablets.

Facebook was back in the news for its stance on information and the political campaigns. It reiterated that it had no plans to stop politicians from spreading lies on the social network. Other tech companies have decided to suspend political ads, including Twitter and Spotify. Google revealed last November it will limit how political advertisers can target voters, only allowing them to focus on broad areas such as age or gender.

Ride-hailing service Uber now offers four-digit PIN codes to help passengers know they’re getting into the right car. The development follows the death of a young woman who was murdered in March after getting into the car of a man impersonating an Uber driver.

This week’s Talking Tech podcasts

CES: Purring robots

CES: Alexa, pay for my gas

CES: Sonos sues Google

CES: Best of show

Verizon’s non-bundle is a semantics game

Subscribe to the Talking Tech newsletter, http://technewsletter.usatoday.com and follow me on Twitter, @jeffersongraham

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/01/11/ces-over-now-so-onto-samsung-galaxy-new-iphones-8-k-tvs-and-more/4424932002/

Sahred From Source link Technology

from WordPress http://bit.ly/39XMoyB via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

mintchocolateleaves · 8 years ago

Text

Cost of Freedom (25/52)

Summary: In which Heiji has been found out, Kaito and Shinichi grab the files and Aoko and Ran return to the police station. Prison!AU

[Beginning] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

"What th' hell is goin' on?"

Heiji takes a step back, drops the hand carrying his phone to his side and lets out a strangled gasp, breath constricting as he glances over at the girl he has been in love with since he was a child. It feels almost like his heart is attempting to squeeze through the gaps of his ribcage, the valves constricting in a way that brings him nothing but pain.

"Kazuha," he breathes, pressing his thumb against the touch screen of his phone, ending the call without glancing down at the screen.

He keeps his gaze on Kazuha, searching her face for any reaction other than shock. How is he going to explain this... how can he possibly explain what he's doing in a short enough time to be able to convince her to not only keep his secret, but to let him continue?

"What are ya doin' back...?" He asks, glancing down to Kazuha's empty hands. He'd been so certain, so completely sure that she'd be down at the coffee shop long enough for...

"I forgot my bag..." Kazuha says, stepping forward and closing the door behind her. She leans against it, almost as if she's attempting to barricade them both inside and keep any other police officers out. "Heiji... what's goin' on?"

Heiji bites at his lip, running a hand through his hair. "N-nothing."

"Tha's a load'a crap." Kazuha whispers, eyes narrowing as she stares him down. "You ain't a liar Heiji, when ya lie it always shows on yer face..."

Not good, Heiji thinks, not good at all.

"I don't know w-what yer talkin' abou'." He stumbles over the words, goes to take a step forward, but hesitates at the expression on Kazuha's face. For a second, there is just faint horror - that he's been lying to her, hiding more than she could have expected - and then, it shifts to distrust and shock, puzzle pieces clicking into place.

"Oh god," she lifts her hand up to her mouth, stifles a gasp and shakes her head. Heiji isn't sure whether she's blinking away tears of anger or horror, but her eyes are wet and she's looking at him as if she doesn't know him. "Tell me ya didn't..."

"Kazuha-"

"You were talkin' to those escaped criminals," she whispers from behind her hands. Then, tearing her gaze away to look at the ground, she adds, "you helped ‘em, didn't ya? Heiji have ya gone mad?"

Heiji takes a step forward, frown forming across his face. "You wouldn't understand."

Hell, Heiji isn't even sure if he fully understands - he'd knows that there's at least a small element of insanity to his actions, he shouldn't have helped break Kudo out... but he was on death row for crying out loud...

"Then explain it to me." Kazuha says, raising her head. She takes a step away from the door, crosses the space between them and glances up at Heiji - her glare is overwhelming, like flames licking at his skin, the heat burning him from the inside out. "Explain how you ain't completely insane."

"Kudo didn't do it." Heiji says, "and they were gonna kill 'im. He was framed."

Kazuha throws her hands up. When she speaks, it's with a raised voice, the volume bordering on a shout. "Where's yer proof, Heiji?"

Heiji frowns, glares back. "I looked into th' case myself idiot, I know he's innocent."

"Then why didn't ya get a' appeal on th' case? If he's innocent, then why did ya need to break 'im out?"

He takes a step forward, tells Kazuha to quit yelling. It's... The evidence he's put together is circumstantial, nothing that would hold in a court of law against fingerprints and lacking alibis. But there had been clues at the scene that had gone overlooked - he wonders whether Hakuba and the others have picked up on them when overlooking the case...

"Quit yellin'," Heiji hisses, "and jus' trust me on this, okay?"

"No wonder yer dad refused to let ya visit this Kudo guy," Kazuha says, reaching forward to aim a punch at his arm, "he's manipulated ya into thinkin' he's a good guy, an' not a serial killer."

That's - that's not true, Heiji tells himself. He'd... there had been truth to the conversations he'd had. Maybe Kudo was a little bit odd, and maybe he'd been thrown into solitary confinement because he'd had to protect himself through violence but - but Kudo wasn't a killer.

"He's not a serial killer!" He cries, and it feels almost as if his anger is burning, provoked by Kazuha's own fiery glare. "I know tha' he isn't!"

"You wanna know why yer dad told you not to visit this guy?" Kazuha spits, "It's 'cause ya look fer puzzles where there ain't any - ya can't believe tha' a detective is responsible for those deaths right? So ya mind made this fake case to make 'im out to be innocent."

Heiji takes a step forward, glares and looking down his eyes at Kazuha, he growls, "Kudo is innocent."

Kazuha flinches away, and like that, any anger Heiji feels is extinguished.

She...

"I'm not lettin' ya do this," Kazuha says, shaking her head, "they're criminals."

His stomach twists. Heiji doesn't know what to do - Kazuha just doesn't understand, won't understand because she's too focused on murders and is trying to rationalise things. For someone who believes in the supernatural, sometimes he thinks she's a little too close minded.

"Give me today," Heiji whispers, "give me today ta convince ya he's innocent. After tha', if you don't believe me... I'll turn 'im in myself."

They don't slam the door behind them, but it almost sounds like it when Kaito closes the archive door behind them, holding his breath as they wait to see whether anyone has seen them enter the room. Opposite him, Shinichi lowers the phone from his ear, glancing down at the screen with wide eyes.

"What...?" Kaito breathes, as Shinichi passes the phone over to him. The screen glows amongst the shadows, and he leans over to press the light switch.

Light illuminates the room, and for a moment, Kaito glances at the rows of bookshelves, each containing files from various old cases. There are four rows, roughly fifteen foot long, and it leaves him wide-eyed wondering how they'll be able to find Shinichi's case files within the thousands of files.

"Hattori hung up," Shinichi says, and he makes his way down the aisle on the far left, eyes skimming over the labelling system, never once stopping to examine anything. "It looks like we're on our own right now until he can call us back."

Kaito slips the phone into a pocket, racing after the ex-detective, escape plans spurring into life as they make their way to the end of the row.

"I see now what you meant when you told me you had to come along to find those files," Kaito says, falling into step beside Shinichi, "a simple search around would take too long."

Shinichi nods, "exactly," before dropping down to his feet, nails digging into the gaps between one of the tiles - he exhales, lifting it up, tile scraping the edge another.

Inside the gap, there is an aluminium case, a padlock sealing it, keeping it shut. Shinichi pulls it out, placing it in front of Kaito.

"Can you pick it?" he asks.

"I really don't think we have the time-" Kaito mutters. The look he receives however, forces him to glance down at the padlock, pointing it upward. He's always been quick with padlocks, and this one doesn't look like it's rusted at all. It shouldn't take any longer than ten seconds. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Shinichi mutters a thank you, watches Kaito as he pushes his picks back into the lock, feeling the pins with the top pick, jiggling the lock until they're all firmly up. It takes five seconds, and then, he's pulling the lock off, passing the box back over for Shinichi to open.

Inside, there is a mobile phone, a case file and a set of keys. Shinichi pockets the phone and the keys, offers Kaito a sharp smile that begs him not to ask right now, before placing the case file - it's thick, at least a centimeter thick - on the inside of his suit, inside the pocket Kaito had incorporated into the disguise.

"Okay," Shinichi says, as he closes the box, placing the lock back on. "We need to get out of here."

"That would be nice," Kaito responds as the other teen places the box back into the hole, putting the tile back into place. "I do think maybe we're pushing our luck inside a police station."

"This was your entire idea!"

"I know that," Kaito says, standing back up and glancing over at the door, "and I'm not saying this isn't a good idea, but we're still pushing the limits and as fun as it is, I don't think we'd survive the ridicule of being caught the day after we've escaped prison."

"They'd probably throw us in solitary confinement forever," Shinichi sighs, "not that I'd complain."

Kaito shudders, remembers the image of Aoko staring across at him, her voice ringing in his ears. The movement is visible, shows in the quake of his shoulders and for a moment, Shinichi stops, offering him a small smile. It's meant to be reassuring, but it seems more like pity.

"Let's avoid being locked up again," Kaito says after a while, dragging himself to his feet. "Especially if it means no solitary."

At the door, Shinichi and Kaito share a look, offer sharp nods, before forcing themselves back outside into the corridor. Excitement curdles away into nervousness, and Kaito forces the door closed behind him, glancing up and down the corridor.

If there's anything he's learnt from his heists, it's that it is always easier to get inside a location, than out of it.

"Ran-chan!" Aoko shouts, climbing the steps from Kudanshita station to the street above, where Ran is waiting. "Aoko's so sorry for running late!"

The fact that they've still got over an hour until they're meant to all meet at the police station, leaves Ran wondering whether Aoko notices the irony of her own statement. Instead, she smiles, tells the girl that it's alright and they start their walk towards the police station.

Aoko had called her, asking if they could go to the station earlier today, before either Saguru or Hattori could arrive. Ran knows that she and Saguru have promised not to keep secrets, but she's accepted without telling him about it - she doesn't want to give Aoko any reason not to help them find Shinichi and KID.

"Come on!" Aoko says, offers a grin, and grabs onto Ran's wrist, pulling her along the street until they reach a taxi. And then, Aoko pushes Ran inside, offers another quirked smile and demands for the driver to take them to the police station.

The urgency makes Ran feel nervous.

As the taxi pulls away, Ran crosses her legs, turns to Aoko with a question in her voice. She says, "you never explained why you wanted to go to the station earlier."

Aoko leans back, rests her head against her seat. When she speaks, her previous smile has faded, leaving behind a blank expression not unlike the one's that Ran has read about in KID's case file. "Aoko wants to rewatch the psych files with Ran-chan, just with the two of us."

"Why?"

"She wants to rewatch the first interview, the one where Kudo-kun said working the case from two sides was exhausting," Aoko says, and she leans forward, her gaze meeting Ran's. Her irises dance with conviction - Ran purses her lips in response. "Aoko thinks that Kudo-kun was telling the truth."

Ran narrows her eyes, "Shinichi isn't a criminal."

"Aoko hasn't decided on that yet," she admits, shaking her head. "No, Aoko means that the case was exhausting to him. Aoko wants to rewatch the videos to see if he drops any hints as to why - Kudo-kun said it himself, he's leaving the case for whoever watches the recording."

A frown, Ran feels something fluttering in her stomach, although she's not sure whether it's nervousness or relief. In thinking that Shinichi was fully innocent... has she overlooked what he's been saying? Had he been leaving messages behind for people to look into...

"But... Surely he's leaving it up to the psychologist who was studying him... not for whoever was watching the video recording...?

Aoko bites her bottom lip, shakes her head. "He didn't keep full eye contact with the psychologist. Aoko noticed that he looked at the camera more often that he looked at her."

Ran hadn't notices that - in fact, she's pretty sure that none of them did. She and Hakuba had been so certain he was innocent, that they'd been focusing more on his words and overall body language. How they'd overlooked Shinichi's eye contact...

"Good find," Ran mutters, as the taxi pulls up to the pavement, the police station looming over them. "Let's head up to the computer then, shall we?"

"I thought ya said they were meeting ya at 10 o'clock," Kazuha asks, leaning forward over at the CCTV cameras. Heiji watches her from the corner of her eye, considers the sudden calmness in her voice, and turns to face the monitors. "But those two are here early."

Heiji watches, nervous, as Aoko and Ran walk in through reception, holding his breath. Then, his eyes flicker over to another camera, the outlines of Kuroba and Kudo in their disguises walking down the corridor.

Despite showing no outward signs of being on guard, Heiji can practically feel the paranoia they must be emitting.

"Yeah," Heiji says, pulling at the collar of his shirt - is it hot in here? Or is he just starting to feel the pressure?

"And this is Kudo an' Kuroba?" Kazuha asks, moving her finger to point up at the two criminals, as they take a left down the corridor, towards the staircase.

Heiji mutters a 'yes', and she frowns. "That's gonna be troubling. Tell 'em to stay away from tha' stairwell."

Heiji sends the text without thinking, before asking why.

Kazuha moves her finger down to another screen, the real Takagi and Sato standing in the entrance to the first floor's stairwell, talking to a twin-tailed traffic officer. Heiji feels his heart leap up his throat, tries to reach up to drag it back into his ribcage, and fails.

"Oh shit," Heiji mutters. "I need to tell them."

"Ya can't," Kazuha says, "'cause Nakamori-chan, and Mouri-chan, are on their way. They'll chase after 'em as soon as they can, an' it'll look weird if ya don't go with 'em."

The groan that seeps from his throat, is nothing short of helpless.

"Gimme ya phone," Kazuha says, leaning down to her bag and pulling out a pair of headphones. Placing them in her ears, she glares until the mobile is in her phone. She plugs them into Heiji's phone, unlocks it - she's known the passcode since before he'd even set it, somehow - and turns back to the CCTV footage. "Go help with th' search."

"Kazuha?"

"I promised I'd hear ya out didn't I?" Kazuha mutters, pulling up the records of his most recent calls. "I can't do tha' if yer in jail for abetting criminals. So... jus' for now, I'm on yer side."

The text message, Kaito thinks, offers no explanation, but since it's from Hattori, he accepts it and turns around before they can even set foot in the stairwell.

Minutes later, he overhears the outburst of 'they're in the what?', assumes the worst and realises that things aren't going as well as they could be. Glancing over at Shinichi, he offers his best poker face, a calm exterior to the worried paranoia he now feels.

And then, the phone goes off.

Kaito picks up, relief spreading through his bones as they rush down the corridor, back in the direction of the archives. How did they wake up so quickly - and even then, how have the detectives been discovered so early?

"Oh thank God," Kaito breathes, pulling Shinichi left, rather than right like the ex-convict seems to want to go, "you can get us out of here right?"

"I'll try."

The voice is not Hattori's.

Unless Hattori has suddenly learned how to mimic voices, Kaito is extremely certain that the voice does not belong to the detective. The accent is still Osakan, but that doesn't mean anything to him - in fact, it only makes him feel more confused. His friend Kazuha then...? But why would Hattori-

"Heiji ain't available," Toyama Kazuha says, and her tone is quiet, "but I ain't a bad alternative. Turn right."

"I'm not sure I understand what's going on," Kaito asks. He takes her direction anyway, making his way down the corridor with a quick gait, steps like thunder across the floor. "Where is...?"

"He's searchin' for ya, like th' others," Kazuha says. "I found out he was helpin' ya when I came back fer my bag, and he still owes me an explanation, but this once I'll help."

Kaito exhales. He still feels nervous, energy building in him at the sight of danger and the unknown, but there's also a source of comfort there - even if it's not Hattori, there's someone on the other side of the phone willing to help them. He still doesn't know whether he can trust Kazuha, but for now, they don't really have a better alternative.

"Left," Kazuha orders, and then, another left. A right and then the two of them falter when Kazuha tells them to take a right here.

"But that's a dead end," Shinichi mutters. "We can't go down this way."

"Yes ya can-" Kazuha breaks off, and there's muffled conversation, "this room has th' best wifi, I'm watchin' videos while I wait for Heiji... look, do ya want a headphone - ya look stressed, I've got th' best cat video- no... okay..." another pause, "head down that corridor."

Kaito does, and as they're walking down the door, he realises why she's sending him down a corridor with no stairwells or obvious exits.

"What was that about cat videos, miss?" Kaito asks, as they come to a stop at the end of the corridor. He taps his hand against the window, glances at the lock at the bottom and nods his head. It's a fairly low window, almost seems like a hidden fire exit for police officers who need it.

"I'm playin' on my phone, while talkin' to ya on Heiji's. If anyone asks, these headphones are for videos I'm watchin', not talkin' to you guys."

"I almost feel like you need an award." Kaito mutters, glancing at the window, Shinichi keeps guard opposite him, looks over at him as he works on the lock, phone balanced between his shoulder and ear. "That's downright devious."

"Heiji told me ta get ya there," Kazuha says, "an' he's on his way with Kudo's girlfriend... an' yours. Don't take it by surprise, when they notice ya, get out."

She doesn't offer anything else, the line going dead.

Kaito doesn't understand why they need to see him - wait... it clicks almost instantly. If Hattori is seen openly trying to catch Shinichi and Kaito, he loses any suspicion that might fall upon him - it's almost genius. He wonders who came up with it, Hattori, or his protector Kazuha.

It seems almost odd to think that Hattori, supposed kendo champion needs to be protected, but looking at his decision to work with two escaped criminals, breaking laws to help them, it almost makes sense.

"I get it," Kaito says, turning to Shinichi and offering him a small smile. It's weak, worried. "Shinichi, we're gonna get company pretty soon."

"Shit..."

Kaito agrees wholeheartedly, but keeps his mouth shut. The sound of footsteps leaves him moving away from the unlocked window, pulling Shinichi backwards so that he's standing nearer to him.

Hattori comes into view, and then Shinichi's girlfriend, Ran-chan, and then, finally - Aoko.

He offers a wave, a smirk that seems to satisfy the growing hysteria building in his stomach as she faces him. Kaito doesn't even know why it unnerves him to see her face, to watch the wide-eyed stare she gives him, watching it slowly transform into a frown.

"Ran-" Shinichi breathes from beside him, and he takes a step forward, as if to walk towards her.

"Shinichi!" Ran calls, and she's moving forward, in front of Hattori who's frozen, in front of Aoko who is simply staring. "Shinichi?"

More footsteps - it seems that Hattori has brought a legion of police officers along with him, steps sounding more like a death march leading him back to prison.

The sound brings him to life again, forces his attention away from Aoko, the curve of her eyebrows as she frowns, the openness of her body language, the way her expression is shuttered, a blankness not even he can read.

"Shinichi," Kaito says, raising his hand so that the teen can't move forward, "do you trust me?"

Shinichi glances at him, shakes his head ever so slightly, and responds, "with your mental state, not particularly."

He pushes Kaito's hand down, stares past him to Ran. Kaito feels a fleck of irritation throb at his forehead, wonders whether he can get them out before Shinichi's own love-sickness can get him caught, and decides that there is only really one thing to do.

"That's the spirit," he chirps, and pushes Shinichi from the window.

Ran surges forward, and Kaito uses this moment, to pull a piece of paper from his pocket, tossing it to the ground by her feet.

"Sorry to cut all the reunions short," he says, offers a quick, small bow, "but we've got somewhere to be."

As he throws himself from the window himself, Kaito tries to ignore Aoko's call of 'don't leave.'

(Like with everything else she ever seems to say, it's completely impossible.)

49 notes · View notes

velmaemyers88 · 6 years ago

Text

I’m trying to beat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap — even if it kills me

I use a lot of internet. My household typically has one or two dozen connected devices at a time, and I have never taken the time to think about the way each device passively and actively consumes data. But I want to change that … because of Comcast Xfinity’s data cap.

After a brief flirtation with DSL, which was a disaster, I’ve reluctantly returned to the clammy death-like embrace of Comcast’s Xfinity. The service is much faster and slightly more reliable than DSL’s glued-together phone lines, but it also comes with a 1TB data cap. I’m exactly three weeks into having Comcast, and I am 65GB over that limit. When I had Xfinity before, I went over 1TB every month without fail.

Comcast does give customers a grace period of two months where you can go over the limit without having to pay extra. After that, however, I will have to pay $10 for every 50GB extra I use. Or I could pay a flat fee of $50 extra each month for unlimited internet. The benefits of paying the $50 is that I never have to think about my surfing and download habits.

But is avoiding that anxiety worth $600 per year? That’s a cost-of-living wage increase for some people. That’s more than the cost of a console — I’m looking at you, Google Stadia.

I probably should pay more than most people

While I hate Comcast, I don’t feel like I have a foot to stand on when it comes to complaining about data caps. If I use significantly more water than my neighbors, I get charged much more for doing so.

And I’m sure I use significantly more internet than my neighbors.

I work from home and regularly download new games that are 50GB or larger. For gaming, I have my work desktop PD, a media PC, a laptop, an Xbox One X, an Xbox One, a Nintendo Switch, and a PlayStation 4 Pro all connected at the same time.

We also stream a ton of HD video. Sometimes my wife is watching Documentary Now on Netflix upstairs while my daughter is watching SpongeBob Squarepants in the basement.

Even worse than that, T-Mobile’s connection is garbage in my new home. So we have two smartphones connected to the Wi-Fi nearly all the time.

Above: That’s a lot of devices.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

So yeah, that’s a lot of internet.

But the water analogy breaks down because the U.S. regulates it as a public utility. It does not do the same for internet. And unlike most other products and services, I do not really have a choice of ISPs. I have zero other options for equivalent or faster high-speed internet. The DSL service’s fastest option was more than 66% slower than what I have now.

If Comcast had some competition, I doubt I would have to pay $50 for unlimited data.

Can I beat the data cap?

Despite knowing that I probably should pay more than most people, I don’t want to. But I’m not sure I have a choice.

Since getting the notice from Comcast that I’ve gone over my limit, I’ve started investigating my data consumption. Xfinity pretends to make this easier for you, but that’s a load of horseshit. Its X-Fi app claims to give you usage stats for your connected devices — only nothing appears up-to-date. The phone I was using to look at the X-Fi app doesn’t even appear on the connected-devices list. You also have to look at each device individually. I saw no way to sort a list of devices by data usage, which would obviously help a lot. But least one of its stats seems accurate, however, and I’m going to work from that.

Unsurprisingly, my main desktop PC that I work from uses the most data. I downloaded several huge games earlier this month for benchmarking some hardware. X-Fi claims this device accounts for 17% of my daily usage. Honestly, I wish it was higher because then I could just focus my efforts on this PC. But I think I’m going to have to take a more holistic approach.

One of the other big offenders is the Xbox One, which averages out to 12% of daily activity. This is the device my daughter primarily uses to stream video when she’s with me in the basement. We use Prime Video for Tumbleleaf and Daniel Tiger. But I’m wondering if the auto-play is keeping it on long after we’re done watching. I’m also hoping that most of the data is coming from auto-updates for games I already installed.

I’m also worried about streaming on the Nvidia Shield, the media PC that also has Steam and auto-updates running, and our phones.

How to defeat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap

Here’s what I’ve done so far.

Gaming data

Steam doesn’t have an option to turn off auto-updates across the board. As I install new games, I will likely turn this option off. I have limited the time that games can auto update to just one hour in the middle of the night. Kinda makes me wish that Xfinity had something like the old “free texting after 9 p.m.” that only 2000s kids will remember.

I’ve also turned off auto-updates on the Xbox One X, which was just a simple toggle in the “System” options. Same with Epic Games Store. As I open up Origin, Uplay, the Xbox app, GOG, and a million other services over the next few days, I will see if I can do the same for them as well.

It’s going to suck when I want to go play a game and have to wait for an update, but Comcast Xfinity’s data speeds are fast enough that this should rarely take longer than a few minutes. I haven’t played the PlayStation 4 in a while, so I’m just going to set that to turn all the way off instead of going into standby mode.

The Nintendo Switch, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to use a ton of data except for when I’m downloading new games. I’m not gonna worry about that yet.

I’ve also gone into Windows 10 and told it that I have a metered connection. Who knows if that is going to actually do anything. I

Streaming-video data

This is actually much more complicated and frustrating than trying to control my gaming usage. We use Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, YouTube, and probably some others I’m forgetting about. So it’s not like I can just go into a system-level option like with the Xbox and adjust some settings. Each app is different.

What I would like to do is to tell each app to generally play video at 720p — especially for my daughter. She doesn’t need SpongeBob in 1080p. But that isn’t an option in Prime Video, Hulu, or Netflix. What I can do is turn off auto-play. So now, if people leave the room, shows will stop ever just one episode.

Also, I think I might also re-configure my child’s TV time. Instead of watching Hulu or Amazon, I might just have her watch PBS using an over-the-air antenna. I like the other benefits of that as well. Daniel Tiger is on at a certain time, so she will have to eat lunch first and take a nap right after. At the same time, I’m looking into get a DVR for that terrestrial television as well.

For YouTube and Twitch, I’m going to stop using “auto” for quality. Instead, I’m going to set everything to 720p. And if I’m watching in vertical mode or in a window, I may drop down to 480p.

Smartphones and everything else

The last thing I’m doing for now is deleting a ton of apps off of my phone. Android tells me that the the Play Store is my biggest data hog, and I think that’s just about updating apps. I have way too much useless junk on my phone, so I’m going to slim that down. Hopefully it makes a difference.

I also looked at my data usage in Windows 10 and saw that syncing cloud apps like Dropbox and Creative Cloud near the top of the list. As part of setting up my metered connection, I set a bandwidth limit of 170GB per month for this machine. And background data is going to automatically pause when I get within 10 percent of that cap. I might even turn it off altogether.

Is this worth the effort?

If unlimited data was $20 extra per month, I would pay that without even thinking about it. But $50 really hurts. That said, I really do hate worrying about data usage. I’ve only just started doing so, and it’s a major source of anxiety.

I suspect that Comcast knows that most people like me are far too busy to attempt to manage their data. The company knows that we are stretched thin, and it’s charging that $50 because it can. And while I said earlier that I think I should pay more, what about the people who don’t use 1TB of data per month? Why aren’t they saving money?

The answer is because this is not really about metering bandwidth for people. It’s about exploiting an opportunity. It just sucks that opportunity only exists because people are too busy and Comcast doesn’t have any real competition.

Credit: Source link

The post I’m trying to beat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap — even if it kills me appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/im-trying-to-beat-comcast-xfinitys-data-cap-even-if-it-kills-me/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=im-trying-to-beat-comcast-xfinitys-data-cap-even-if-it-kills-me from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.tumblr.com/post/186477213312

0 notes

reneeacaseyfl · 6 years ago

Text

I’m trying to beat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap — even if it kills me

But is avoiding that anxiety worth $600 per year? That’s a cost-of-living wage increase for some people. That’s more than the cost of a console — I’m looking at you, Google Stadia.

I probably should pay more than most people

And I’m sure I use significantly more internet than my neighbors.

We also stream a ton of HD video. Sometimes my wife is watching Documentary Now on Netflix upstairs while my daughter is watching SpongeBob Squarepants in the basement.

Even worse than that, T-Mobile’s connection is garbage in my new home. So we have two smartphones connected to the Wi-Fi nearly all the time.

Above: That’s a lot of devices.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

So yeah, that’s a lot of internet.

If Comcast had some competition, I doubt I would have to pay $50 for unlimited data.

Can I beat the data cap?

Despite knowing that I probably should pay more than most people, I don’t want to. But I’m not sure I have a choice.

I’m also worried about streaming on the Nvidia Shield, the media PC that also has Steam and auto-updates running, and our phones.

How to defeat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap

Here’s what I’ve done so far.

Gaming data

The Nintendo Switch, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to use a ton of data except for when I’m downloading new games. I’m not gonna worry about that yet.

I’ve also gone into Windows 10 and told it that I have a metered connection. Who knows if that is going to actually do anything. I

Streaming-video data

Smartphones and everything else

Is this worth the effort?

Credit: Source link

The post I’m trying to beat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap — even if it kills me appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

0 notes

weeklyreviewer · 6 years ago

Text

I’m trying to beat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap — even if it kills me

But is avoiding that anxiety worth $600 per year? That’s a cost-of-living wage increase for some people. That’s more than the cost of a console — I’m looking at you, Google Stadia.

I probably should pay more than most people

And I’m sure I use significantly more internet than my neighbors.

We also stream a ton of HD video. Sometimes my wife is watching Documentary Now on Netflix upstairs while my daughter is watching SpongeBob Squarepants in the basement.

Even worse than that, T-Mobile’s connection is garbage in my new home. So we have two smartphones connected to the Wi-Fi nearly all the time.

Above: That’s a lot of devices.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

So yeah, that’s a lot of internet.

If Comcast had some competition, I doubt I would have to pay $50 for unlimited data.

Can I beat the data cap?

Despite knowing that I probably should pay more than most people, I don’t want to. But I’m not sure I have a choice.

I’m also worried about streaming on the Nvidia Shield, the media PC that also has Steam and auto-updates running, and our phones.

How to defeat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap

Here’s what I’ve done so far.

Gaming data

The Nintendo Switch, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to use a ton of data except for when I’m downloading new games. I’m not gonna worry about that yet.

I’ve also gone into Windows 10 and told it that I have a metered connection. Who knows if that is going to actually do anything. I

Streaming-video data

Smartphones and everything else

Is this worth the effort?

Credit: Source link

The post I’m trying to beat Comcast Xfinity’s data cap — even if it kills me appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

0 notes

whimsically-ominously-auspice · 6 years ago

Text

Matt, although semi-retarded, is not inbred.

His parents met at Yale.

His mom was raped by his grandpa and so Matt's dad, he didn't put up with that...

And its a really sad story.

So they went running around the country like hippies. And they changed their names because they could always feel Matt's grandpa at their heels.

But then... That old trailer park in Alabama... And Raul. They loved him, he was the neighborhood everything.

And Jesse did hobo on trains but Raul got him a trailer and a job as a maintenance man.

We owned our trailer but they had trailers to rent that the park owned. And they were all in those, or rent to own. Some were furnished.

So they were loving the park and Raul and the retired chief of police's daughter was living there and he sold hemp as oppose to Marijuana. They didn't feel they could find a better place to call home.

And they had me, my dad was often on the ship or away and i lived with them most of the,time otherwise my mother would abuse me in some fashion.

And then Rauls wife would,cheat and on and on

So eventually, Matt, his parents, Raul and his daughter and then my dad lived in a tiny trailer.

But we were happy.

The adults all loved to cook and they picked their own seasonings to use. So we would ne playing at the park and come home and tell who was cooking by the taste or smell even,if we saw no one in,the kitchen.

Bitches, i can cook. I can tell you what's in a recipie by smelling it. It helps to see it... But yeah. I'm gonna say Matt knows good cooking but can't cook cause he ain't allowed to cook for no one. So there. He's horrible at it. And he is always drinking shakes cause no one can cook good and hes always lying that people can cook good when he eats because he's polite but a chronic liar. Beat me, you can't. Haha. I won't believe the lies he tells you. You can but you're dumb.

Anyways. So they knew the grandpa was catching up... They called home every so often and the area code would show and he would hire private detectives. They found out there was a bunch of people living in the trailer so he was all "just come home and ill give you money"

So the adults that mattered agreed to move to Mobile.

His mom didn't make it as I remember. I remember her being there. Because she was dead. But she didn't seem,dead because she really was just like she was alive but she didnt cook. Although sometimes I would put her special seasoning in soup, by climbing on the counter and hovering over the stove.

I got caught once and just got a big ole hug.

It was really the best family,

And his dad died in Mobile.

Both were murdered and we were all there when one of the detectives were killed. It was his grandpa's friend. We were camping.

I'll say I did it. And i don't care. He should not been there. And he shouldn't leave his gun on the seat of his car when children were around and he was sleeping. Especially when we were hiding.

And so thats why I tell people that I will kill them. Because i probably will and there really isn't anything i can do about that. All they have to do is leave me alone and everything is fine.

I don't really feel bad about who i am or the fact that sometimes you have to fight to the death.

But yeah, Matt isn't inbred. I know that. His parents met at Yale. She was going to be a lawyer and he was going to be a doctor.

So that's why I'm moving far away and not telling my mom where. History repeats itself a lot. But not if you won't put up with it.

I killed the PI. I can put up with that. I will invite my father to visit. But not her. And that's different than Matt's parents. They didn't invite the gramma.

You know we left that guy in his brown car to bloat and stink. He was nasty and he exploded. We waited until my dad came to Mobile from work and Jesse told him so my dad reported the body and said we smelled him from our campsite.

We were local heroes. My dad didn't admit to knowing. Raul said if my dad didnt guess or blame an adult then we would just be all we smelled him. But I had the gun, still so my dad was all "put it back!!" I was like "sure dad" but Raul told me to give it to the cops and say i took it out after (which i did) that way we could say it was suicide without the gun being in the correct place. But he was all strictly don't tell them anything about touching it before. So i was all cute "i touched it after, can i go play now?"

I had shot that car up like crazy, i was so little! So it was said it was suicide made to look like murder.

It was pretty clever. And honestly, it wasn't even me. It was Matt's mom. Like when she told me to put in the spices, she told me when and where to sneak away to, to find him asleep in his small old truck.

He was going to kill us. She knew. He fell asleep waiting for us to fall asleep.

Matt's grandpa says he was a hired gun, he would never use his best friend. But his friend disappeared a long time ago. And won't ever admit it because if he does, hes got 4 dead bodies and i have one. Even if someone else killed Raul & his kid cause it was paranoid crazy. Or was it just a jealous sicko?

Anyways.

Matt is a lot like his dad...

But I'm more like my dad and his mom. Some would say I'm like my mom but I'm not. I,don't beat up babies cause they're smaller than me. I beat up people that are bigger than me.

One,time, Dejoria, she became,smaller than me.

Leah is often smaller than me but she did something to me,personally in person that I will never forgive. So did Gary, Megan, & Lauren.

So they can go suck an exhaust pipe because I don't care how small they get. Ill find them and crush them. See JP Dejoria. Ive never helped him.

So while i have limitations, I'm not limited.

Because I actually have structure.

How many people can say they saved their family from death more than once? ---besides refraining from killing them?

I can say I've done both.

I know being inbred isn't a person's fault. Plenty of Royalty across the seas are inbred to keep the crown in the family, so its not necessarily bad.

But when someone is a product of incest rape and they are no different than the rapist that conceived them, its a one word explanation of their behavior.

They're not just inbred, they're a mirror image of what created them. So its a reminder, "I know who your father is"

And let him feel whatever he wants.

Its not nice. But its fair.

0 notes