#in which shane realizes shane still has issues 10~ years later

[koushirouizumi]

Meanwhile with DigiAdvs 02's Daisuke+Co. [and some O.C.s]

Inter-national O.C. Chosen Shane: ...(*waking up*) SHANE: (*WAKING... UP*) S H A N E: SHANE: (?????) (I'm. I'm actually.) SHANE: {ALIVE...} Shane, wondering how in the world did even wind up in this bed, wait, Looks Over Side And: Shane: (Oh) Daisuke+Ken, sleeping on the side of the bed underneath: Shane: (...I guess this is part of how+why they're Queer-platonic Life partners.) Shane: (...) (...I actually SLEPT.) Shane: (I haven't slept in over 10 years.) Shane: (It was not 'fully' 'restful' but.) {Well, at least my eyes and head aren't killing me as much now...} Shane: (Looks at Daisuke+Ken) (Vmon+Wormmon on the other end) {How do I step over them all without tripping again.} Shane, suddenly realizing: {Sh*t I'm *hungry*.} Daisuke+Ken: (*are still 'asleep'*) Ken: (I'll make something soon.) Daisuke: (I'm kind of worried that if I react I'll just scare them anyway.) Shane, about to try stepping over them, ALMOST TrIPPING AGA---: DAISUKE: WAIT

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke Reviews: Iron Man 3

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where We Continue Looking At The Marvel Cinematic Universe...

And With Phase One Now Behind Us We Move Now Onto The Start Phase Two, With The First Movie Of Phase 2, Iron Man 3...

This Film Sees Tony Stark Attempting To Deal With The Events That Happened In The Avengers While Also Dealing With Terrorist Attacks From A New Enemy Called The Mandarin, Will Tony Succeed In Stopping This New Threat While Facing His Own Issues?

Lets Find Out As We Watch Iron Man 3...

The Film Starts With An Intro From Tony Stark (Played Again By Robert Downey Jr) Before The Film Actually Begins With A Flashback On New Year's Eve In 1999 In Switzerland, Where Tony Is With A Girl Named Maya Hansen (Played By Rebecca Hall) And Happy (Played By The Person Who Should Have Directed This Movie, Jon Favreau) At A Conference Where Tony Actually Met Yinsen Before They Were Captured By The 10 Rings...

On His Way Up To His Room With Maya And Happy, Tony Meets A Fanboy Named Aldrich Killian (Played By Guy Pearce) Who Attempts To Get Tony To Join His Team At Advanced Idea Mechanics (Otherwise Known In Marvel As A.I.M.) Seemingly Interested, Tony Tells Killian That He'll Meet Him On The Roof In 5 Minutes...

But Being An Asshole Back Then Tony Doesn't Show And Instead Spends His Night With Hansen Only To Ditch Her The Next Day...

But Eventually Growing Out Of His Asshole Phase, We Come To Now As Tony Works On A New Mark 42 Armor...

Mark 42?!? We Were On Mark 7 How The Hell Did We Get To 42?

Well Turns Out That Ever Since The Battle With The Chitauri, Tony Has Been Without Sleep And Has Been Making Suits Like Crazy, Some That Are Just Plain Iron Man Suits And Others That Serve A Certain Purpose (Space Travel, Underwater Capabilities, Heavy Lifting Etc..) And This... Is Just Another Iron Man Suit...

(Start At 0:51, End At 3:04)

The Next Day, A Broadcast From A Terrorist Criminal Known As The Mandarin Goes Over The Airwaves And In Response To This New Threat, President Ellis (Played By The Bad Guy From Die Hard 2) Rebrands Rhodey As The Iron Patriot As The Name War Machine Did Not Test Well With Focus Groups...

War Machine Did Not Test Well With Focus Groups...

What Was The Age Preference For These Groups? Ages 2 To 3 Years Old?

Asking What's Going On With The Mandarin, Rhodey Tells Tony (Despite It Being Classified Information) That There Have Been 9 Bombings Despite The Public Knowing About 8 And There Have Been No Evidence Of Bombs Whatsoever...

Interrupted By Two Kids Asking For An Autograph, Tony Gives It But When One Asks About His Experience With A Black Hole In The Avengers It Causes Tony To Have An Anxiety Attack. Going To His Suit Outside, Tony Leaves...

Meanwhile At Stark Industries, Pepper Potts (Played By The Queen Of Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow) Has A Meeting With Aldrich Killian, Who Looks Less Geeky And More Suave And Debonair...

Anyway, Killian Is There To Show Pepper, A.I.M.'S Latest Project Called Extremis Which Hacks Into The Hard Drive Of A Living Organism And Recode It's DNA But With Pepper Believing That Killian's Project Is Dangerous, She Takes A Pass On It To Killian's Displeasure...

Returning To Tony's Mansion, Pepper Finds What She Believes To Be Tony Inside Of His Latest Iron Man Suit, Wanting A Kiss From Tony, Pepper Goes To The Lab To Get A Crowbar Only To Discover That Tony's Not Inside The Suit And That It's Just His Voice Coming From It....

Believing Their Date Night To Be Ruined, Pepper Decides To Go To Bed But Tony Stops Her When He Decides To Tell Her The Truth That Ever Since The Battle With The Chitauri, He's Been A Piping Hot Mess And That He Can't Sleep And The Only Reason He's Not In The Looney Bin Is Because Of Her...

Later That Night In Bed, Tony Has A Nightmare Accidentally Calls The Mark 42 Where It Attacks Pepper. Waking From His Nightmare, Tony Powers Down The Suit But Still Pissed Off Tony's Suit Almost Decapitated Her, Pepper Goes To Sleep On The Couch...

Meanwhile At The Chinese Theatre, Happy Follows Killian's Right Hand Man To There As He Looked Suspicious The Entire Time Killian Was Talking With Pepper And Boy, Was Happy Right, As He Seems To Be Selling Drugs To Someone...

(Start At 0:52, End At 3:10)

The Next Day A New Video From The Mandarin Is Released, As Tony Goes To See Happy In The Hospital Only To Do The Dumbest Thing In The World When Being Interviewed By The Press, He Gives Out His Home Address For The Mandarin To Come Face Him...

How Crazy Do Have To Be To Realize That This Is A Bad Idea?!?

So, Getting All Forms Of Information On The Mandarin From Everywhere And Even Recreating The Crime Scene In Virtual Reality, Tony Manages To Get A Look At The Dog Tags That Were Near Happy After The Explosion...

But He's Interrupted When He Gets A Visit From Maya Hansen...

Passing Out After Surviving That Attack, J.A.R.V.I.S. Eventually Wakes Up Tony When The Suit Reaches 5% Power And They're About To Crash Land In A Small Town In Tennessee, Letting Tony Out Of The Suit As The Power And J.A.R.V.I.S. Goes Out, Tony Drags The Suit Into The Workshop Of A Young Kid Named Harley Keener (Played By One Of The Kids From Jurassic World) Who Tony Recruits To Help Him Get His Suit Back On-Line...

Receiving A Call From Tony To Let Her Know That He's All Right, Pepper Ends Up Going With Maya Hansen, Who Believes That Her Boss, Aldrich Killian, Is Working With The Mandarin, Meanwhile Back In Tennessee, Harley Takes Tony To A Site Where A Former Military Solider Blew Himself Up, Killing 6 People In The Process...

But Tony Doesn't Buy It As There Are Only 5 Shadows On The Wall...

After Another Anxiety Attack When Harley Mentions The Avengers, They Get Back To Buisness By Talking To The Bomber's Mother Who Gives Him A File On Everything Only To Be Confronted By One Of Killian's Goons (And A Hot One At That, Despite The Scar On Her Face) Who Kills A Sheriff When Things Don't Go Her Way...

(Start At 2:52)

But When Killian's Right Hand Man Takes Harley Captive, He Uses A Device That Tony Gave Him Earlier Before Tony Blasts Him With A Handheld Repulsor Meant For One Time Use...

Stealing The Man's Car Keys Off Of Him, Tony Says Goodbye To Harley And Takes Off To Go Stop The Mandarin...

However As That Happens Another Message From The Mandarin Comes On The Screen, Stating That If The President Doesn't Call Him Within The Next Half Minute, He Will Kill The Accountant For The Roxxon Corporation, However, When The President Calls Him, He Shoots The Guy Anyway!....

Pissed Off About This, The President Tells His Vice President To Tell Rhodey To Find This Lunatic Now...

Looking Over The Files In His Car, Tony Realizes That A.I.M. Is Behind This, So, He Contacts Rhodey To Get His A.I.M. Account Name And Password As They Upgraded His Suit. Eventually Getting It, He Goes To A News Truck (Which Is Covering A Miss America Like Pagent Where Stan Lee Is Judging!)...

Stan Lee Cameo!

To Use Their Satellite To Encrypt Some Data Files But Only Problem Is Their Connection Is Slow To Say The Least, But Wouldn't You Know It The Guy Who Is Handling The Van Is A Tony Stark Fanboy...

So, He Speeds Up The Internet By About 40% So Tony Can Get His Files Which Reveal That Extremis Is What Is Causing People To Blow Up...

Pepper Talks With Maya At A Hotel Only For When Hears A Knock On The Door To Be Confronted By Killian Who Kidnaps Pepper As We Discover That Maya Is Actually Working With The Mandarin...

Meanwhile, Half Way Across The World, Rhodey Continues His Search For The Mandarin Only To Get Kidnapped Himself By...The Wicked Witch Of The West From Once Upon A Time...

Contacting Harley Back In Tennessee (Who Is Trying To Get The Suit Back On-Line) He Manages To Get Tony In Contact With J.A.R.V.I.S. Who Is Back On-Line And That After Factoring In A.I.M.'s Headquarters Around The World, Their Location Is In Miami...

That However, Is The Good News...

The Suit Is Charging But It Won't Be Enough Power To Revitalize The Mark 42. Having Another Anxiety Attack Without Harley Even Mentioning The Avengers Or New York, Harley Suggests That Since Tony Is A Mechanic That He Should Just Build Something...

So, Taking Harley's Advice To Heart Tony Does Build Weapons Before Driving To Miami..

Only For Tony And Us To Discover The Biggest F-You Moment Of The Entire Movie...

And That's That The Mandarin Is Not The Mandarin But An Actor Named Trevor Slattery...

What The Hell!?!

THIS HAS TO BE THE WORST TWIST IN A MARVEL MOVIE EVER!!!!

Why Did They Do This!?! Why Did They Think That We Would Be Shocked By This Huge Middle Finger Pointed At Us?

The Mandarin Is Supposed To Be A Genius Scientist And A Superhuman Martial Artist Whose Sources Of Power Come From Ten Rings That Adapted From Alien Technology From A Crashed Spaceship While Here You've Made Him An Actor Who Only Took The Job To Support His Drug Usage...

Screw You, Marvel, Screw You For Screwing Up A Good Character...

Knocked Out By Killian's Right Hand Guy, Tony Wakes Up Only To Be Confronted By Maya Who Asks Him To Help Her Fix Extremis, But Saying Go To Hell, Tony Is Then Confronted By Aldrich Who Tell Him Why He's Doing This Which Is Basically The Same Reason Syndrome Became A Villain In The Incredibles...

Yes, Everyone, Shane Black Is Stealing From Brad Bird's Closet...

Wanting To Repay Tony By Making Him As Desperate As He Was Killian Shows Tony That He Is Injecting Extremis Into Pepper, Not Liking This Maya Turns On Killian And Tells Him To Let Tony Go Or Else She'll Kill Herself By Injecting Extremis Into Her But Instead, Killian Decides To Leave Out The Middle Man And Just Shoot Her...

With Tony Calling Killian A Maniac, Killian Exits So He Can Attempt To Get Rhodey Out Of His Iron Patriot Armor By Burning Through It, Eventually Getting Rhodey Out, Killian's Right Hand Guy Knocks Him Out...

Guarded By 2 Guards, An Alarm Goes Off On Tony's Dora The Explorer Watch Which Gives Him The Go Ahead To Call The Mark 42 From Harley's In Tennessee...

With Pieces Of The Suit Coming One At A Time, Tony Takes Out The Guards. Going Outside, Tony Sees Killian Take Off In An Army Helicopter While His Second In Command Commanders The Iron Patriot Suit...

With Rhodey Coming To, He Takes Out Some Guards Before Contacting Tony Who Introduces Him To Trevor, Who Doesn't Tell Them Much About Killian's Plan Except That It's Happening On A Big Boat Off The Coast And It May Involve The Vice President...

Contacting The Vice President, He Tells Tony That He's Surrounded By Secret Service And He Doubts Anyone Will Attack And With The President Safe On Air Force One With Rhodey On-Board He Honestly Has Nothing To Say To Tony But When Rhodey Gets On The Phone Explaining Everything To The Vice President, He Tells Them That He'll Lock It Down And If Need Be, Have F-22's On Stand By...

However, It's Somewhat Implied By The Vice President's Crippled Daughter That He's Working With Killian...

With The President And "Iron Patriot" On-Board Air Force One, With The Plane Taking Off, Killian's Right Hand Man Locks 2 Security Guards In The Bathroom Before Taking Out The Security Guards That Are Guarding The President...

Placing The President Inside Of The Iron Patriot Suit, Killian's Right Hand Guy Is Preparing To Jump Ship, However, Tony May Have Something To Say About That....

(Start At 0:36, End At 3:56)

Tony Activates The House Party Protocol, While The President Arrives In The Iron Patriot On Killian's Ship, Asking What Killian Wants, He Tells The President Nothing Only Stating That With His Death The Vice President Will Have His Job...

Sneaking On-Board Killian's Freighter With Rhodey, They See The President Inside Of The Iron Patriot Suit Strung Up Like Jesus To The Cross, Only To Be Spotted By Killian's Men And Women Who Serve Him Who Start Shooting At Them...

(Start At 0:59)

With Pepper Alive, She Finishes Off Killian By Blowing Him Up Again...

What The Hell, If You Don't Succeed Killing A Guy With Explosions Once Then Try Try Again...

Understanding Now Why Tony Doesn't Want To Give Up Being Iron Man, Tony Promises Pepper To Find A Cure For Extremis By Limiting His Job As Iron Man Ten Fold By Activating The Clean Slate Protocol, Destroying All Of His Suits...

You Know, When I Saw This In Theatres I Thought This Was The End Of Iron Man, Tony's Suits Are Destroyed, His Arc Reactor Is Taken Out And Some Guy Who Yinsen Knew Takes Out The Remaining Shrapnel That Was In His Heart So There's No Way To Power His Suits So The Question Remained And Still Remains, How Could Tony Be Iron Man Without The Arc Reactor?

But Aside From That Lingering Question, The Vice President And Trevor Slattery Are Arrested, Tony And Pepper Spend Christmas In Some Continent, It Looks Like Happy Will Survive To See Spider Man Homecoming And Harley Gets A Laboratory Upgrade From Tony As A Thank You While Tony Tosses His Arc Reactor Into The Ocean As It's It Appears That He's Leaving Iron Man In The Past (Despite Us Knowing That We'll See Tony Again In Age Of Ultron)

After The Credits Roll We Get An End Credit Scene, Which Shows Us That The Person Tony Has Been Talking To All This Time Was Bruce Banner (Played Again By Mark Ruffalo) Who Fell Asleep While Listening To Tony Talk...

Before I Say What I Thought About The Movie I Think I Should Briefly Mention The Marvel One-Shot Entitled All Hail The King, (SPOILERS) Which Shows What Happened To Trevor Slatttery After The End Of Iron Man 3 As A Documentary Filmmaker Named Jackson Norriss Who Goes To Ask Trevor Some Questions About The Mandarin Incident...

Only For Us To Discover Later That Jackson Actually Is There To Break Trevor Out Of Prison So He Can Meet The Real Mandarin Who Wants Trevor To Pay For Impersonating Him On TV...

And Recently It's Been Revealed That We Will Meet The Real Mandarin In Shang Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, There's Only One Problem That I Have With This And That's That It's Not Iron Man Who's Going To Be Fighting Him But Shang Chi!

The Mandarin Is Iron Man's Bad Guy Not Shang Chi's And Now That (Again, Spoilers!) Iron Man Is Dead, We Can't, And They Think It's Just Okay To Place Him With Another Superhero?

Well, It's Not, You Had Your Chance At The Mandarin And You Blew It, So Move On To Another Supervillain That Doesn't Belong To Another Superhero! Because I'll Tell You When This Film Comes Out I Have No Intention Of Seeing It Unless They Somehow Resurrect Tony For This One Movie Or Have Someone That Is Connected With Tony In Someway (Like Rhodey) In It To Make Up For The Mistakes In This Movie!

But Enough Of This Rant And Onto What I Thought About This Movie...

It's Okay, The Action Scenes Are Good And Robert Downey Jr. Is Good As Tony As Always But The Rest Of The Film Is A Jumbled Mess, From The Story To The Villain This Movie Is Horrible Everyone Says That The Problem With The First 2 Iron Man Movies Is That The Villain Is Just A Guy In Another Iron Man Suit, Well, No Offense I Would Rather Have A Guy In An Iron Man Suit As A Bad Guy Than Getting What We Got Here...

Also I'm A Little Upset That They Kinda Killed The Best Character Of These Iron Man Movies....DUM-E!!!! NO!!!!!! But Of Course I Kid, As We See Tony With DUM-E's Remains At The End Of The Movie, Either Way, This Movie Is One Hot Mess And I Say Skip It And Just Wait Until Age Of Ultron To Get Your Iron Man Fix...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[chrisodonline]

Spec and Motifs/Themes for S9

I’m about to write something that should probably be multiple posts, but, alas, you’ll get one giant tome of my ramblings that will all be proven wrong in a little over 24 hours.

I am currently powered by punchiness that follows a very long week, low sleep levels, leftover rotisserie chicken that I almost ate with a spoon instead of a fork, a couple Tootsie Pops in G Callen’s honor, and some chocolate milk. I did promise (okay, 2 weeks ago) @sspaz1000 and @mashmaiden speculation. (They’ll regret asking!)  

Before I start on my theories, a few things of note:

Thank you to those who have listened to my ramblings and talked with me this season. Some of those talks have actually led to thoughts behind the cut.  To those who tolerated me: @aprylynn, @chicgeekgirl89, @raccoonsmate4life, @s-sdensi, and @ishiptoomanypeopleontv.  Always ever patient and so sweet. You guys rock!   These people are also whom you should probably see for Densi spec and reflection, which I won’t do too much of -- though, I could. I’ll touch on it briefly, but I’m not an expert.

Beneath the cut you’ll find a few different theories, reflections on motifs/themes from S9, and why I still cite Mr. Bartels as the King of Foreshadowing. Plus, lots of words. I might cut myself off on some of these, as feel free to ask for elaboration!

A quick look at the season, and you’ll see some repeated themes and motifs.  You can say that about past seasons, and some have played bigger roles over the years, e.g. duplicity, identity issues, etc. 

This year has been about consequences: the team merits a firmer hand, Sam lost his wife, the job’s dangerous and makes your loved ones worry (see: Deeks), and we see a repeat of things come back to bite people later on -- which adds some depth to dragging some of the baddies’ plots out across the season and with 2 eps or more.  Hetty’s whole arcs deal with consequences: her team left someone behind, and she feels responsible.  Many veteran agents and figures suffer from Agent Orange. Keane’s back, but what life does he come back to? Etc.  Plus, see: Kensi/Deeks.  Deeks almost appears to be stalling the wedding and trying to hide his hesitation with disagreements and secret wedding venue scouting since Kensi was catching on to the avoidance. Like I said, though, I won’t talk about them too much.

With Hetty and the new Boss, one could easily argue that the ep ends with the team in serious peril.  We’ll know they’ll make it out, but the question is how would they survive such a pickle (much like in the “Deep Trouble” episodes - Shane Brennan even conceded in an interview we all knew Callen and Sam would survive, the question was always “How?”).  The team, nay, the Team, nay, THE TEAM (TM) has been at the center of the season even when separate.  Their future as a TEAM(TM) has been questioned/discussed.  It would make sense something narratively happened, and they already go in at odds.  Does this mean the whole TEAM is in trouble? Or do they accidentally or on purpose out of necessity, have to leave someone behind, perhaps assuming they’re dead, e.g. Keane? Having to get an injured member out of a foreign country off the books? Eep. (Speaking of TEAM, man, am I worried about Hidoko. Anyone else?)

So, that’s one set of theories.  The other I’ve had for a while, and it’s been building up with some of the eps, namely Bartels’, and the portrayal of certain dynamics plus other plots.  With BTS stuff and now Gemmill’s interview, it seems the theories are solid, but we’ll see. They could be a misdirect.

Narrative-wise, it would make a lot of sense that something very serious happens to Callen:

His relationship with Mosley has been soooooo contentious, up until they started to get along and connect by relating to each other.  While repetitive, they may have wanted to really amp it up -- and they did so by making either one of them, at any time, amped up past 10 -- to contrast the finale and latter half of the season. At times, it seemed like caricatures of either of them to keep them at ends.  He’s the one who explicitly promised to get the kid back, and when it comes to kids, we know G goes all in -- and then some. 

Remember how I mentioned Bartels? Well, I’ve talked ad nauseum (I’m sorry!) before about his love of foreshadowing with not only references, but clever parallels. All the way back to the “The Grey Man,” we knew he seemed to know where G’s story was headed.  He paralleled the dad in it with G’s.  (He also had an “Amy” in it, and I’m still convinced he knows that Amy Callen lives!  See also: the brother/sister surviving in “Driving Miss Diaz.” Sure, you could argue that foreshadowed Alex, but don’t rain on my parade!) Well, the first big Bartels ep was *drum roll* the Joelle episode. Despite their history, plus her constant taunting and pissiness, G never ever stopped helping her.  He constantly noted, “I’m doing this for the kid.”  That’s all she had to say to get him to help, and she knew it.  She also knew she could trust him, despite their history.  No matter what, he helped her, and she kept asking HIM for help.  The rogue sect knew she’d go to him, probably based on what she reported. He helped her fake her death, knowing it was bad situation for the kid and dad who deserved to know.  She asked him to help her some more. Why? Because she knew he’d always do the right thing. If she got into danger, he’d help her.   Mosley saw the same in him, in addition to his capability.  (You could draw more potential parallels to Mosley and Joelle, and I will later*, which you can read or not.) So, G jumping through hoops for a mom and her kid? Check. 

Bartels’ next stop? Garrison gets traded.  *still crying but also thinking about how COD and all these people are such pretty criers* Anyway, I’m gonna pull myself together. He made a very big deal about how it was his duty to keep helping families, noting to G that if his sacrifice saved and reunited another family, it would all be worth it.  It seems likely we’ll see G follow in his father’s footsteps, as he has with both of his parents his whole life, even before he realized it.  Perhaps he trades himself for Mosley’s son, or uses himself as a distraction/sacrifice, or he soldiers on despite a head injury to make sure the mission is completed -- and suffers delayed consequences, e.g. hematoma.   G seems the most likely to sacrifice himself.  He also would see himself as the most expendable.  His attachments are withering and commitments lessened this season.  Anna seems ready to let him go, which will probably strain his longest friendship: Arkady’s.  Hetty’s back, and he was trying to take up for the team in her stead, but now he knows they’re “safe” with her there -- at least their jobs are. Mosley seems to have cooled off on her mission to split them. (I’m going to get back to that, and I’ll put it in a separate post -- as I’ve just decided*).  Alex seems to have pulled away, and taken Jake with her. His dad’s where he can’t save him. Sam’s dealing okay, and he seems to be keeping G at a distance, so he probably feels he can’t do much to help him despite wanting to.  Kensi and Deeks have each other. Eric and Nell have each other. (BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS!!!!) Mosley’s son needs his mother.  And everyone else is needed by someone else.  He still always seems surprised by how much he means to people, as it’s not something he’s used to with his childhood, so he definitely sees himself as expendable as he used to be before certain relationships. 

For practicality’s sake, something that would minimize G’s screentime for a few eps (nothing like Kensi’s when Dani was out), might help get COD an ep early on next season for his directing -- without having to wait until the end of the season like they usually do.  It would make scheduling his time across three episodes (location scouting and prep, directing, and editing) easier on him, the writers of the eps, and the crew that has to balance all the disparate schedules.  Directing slots are usually done a year in advance, so they would have known in advance when COD would be back in the director’s chair going into S10.  

Again, with the consequence theme, something going super duper wrong, unlike with the Vietnam mission, would put the team that’s in hot water in even more hot water -- including Mosley.  

Sam potentially losing G? This time of year? After being shot and probably wanting to double-down on his commitment to his children? THE DRAMA! THE ANGST! 

Things going wrong with other team members following some difficult conversations and uncertainty about things? Probably another reason to delay the Densi wedding even more.

So, yes, that sums up (ha!) my different theories.  In response to the * things from above, I’m going to write a separate post about Mosley/Joelle.  I was going to include it in this one, but you’ve all suffered enough.

[investmart007]

Chicago Apartment Fire Kills Eight, Adds to List of Tragic Apartment Fires Across Illinois and the Country, National Fire Sprinkler Association Responds

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/5xzQEZ

Chicago Apartment Fire Kills Eight, Adds to List of Tragic Apartment Fires Across Illinois and the Country, National Fire Sprinkler Association Responds

CHICAGO/ Aug. 27, 2018 (STL.News)– A fire in a three-story apartment building in Chicago has resulted in eight deaths. Six children and two adults were killed after the fire broke out at 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, August 26th. Additionally, a teenager and young adult were taken to the hospital and are listed in critical condition. A firefighter was also injured while fighting the blaze. The building did not have a fire sprinkler system. Firefighters were unable to find working smoke detectors in the building. This is Chicago’s largest fire fatality loss since the Cook County Administration Building high-rise fire that killed six people in 2004.

Chicago does not require fire sprinklers in existing apartments under 80 feet in height and when new apartments are constructed, fire sprinklers are not required until wood construction exceeds 30 feet in height. There have been three attempts to adopt the International Code Council (ICC) codes, which require all new apartments to have fire sprinklers and existing apartment buildings under 80 feet to have fire sprinklers when renovations occur in the building. Advocates have been educating and encouraging a change in the law for years, however, all attempts have been opposed by numerous building and real estate stakeholders.

This fire joins other recent fires in underscoring the need for fire sprinklers. A fire last week in San Antonio, Texas claimed the life of one, while a fire three weeks ago in San Marcos, Texas claimed the lives of five college students. Apartment and condo buildings present unique challenges for life safety, and as facts are examined, the realization that built in fire protection is needed becomes apparent. A fire in Prospect Heights, Illinois in July caused over $10 million dollars in damage to the River Trails condominium complex and placed hundreds of citizens’ and firefighters’ lives at risk. Not only are lives lost and lives changed forever for those injured, physically and mentally, but it is a loss of housing for the community and a loss of tax base. Fire in an uncontrolled state is devastating to lives, communities, and this country. Adopting the latest national building fire codes and standards will save lives and properties for decades to come, as these tragedies are avoidable.

“It’s time for community leaders to realize there are steps they can take to ensure citizens and firefighters are safe,” explains NFSA President Shane Ray. “Fire sprinklers are needed in apartment buildings. Progressive cities and states have required this for years, some, such as Maryland, for decades. Too many lives are being lost. We need to respond with proactive steps to make these buildings safer.”

The National Fire Sprinkler Association is firm in the belief that fire sprinklers would have changed the outcome of these fires. The deaths of these unfortunate victims were needless and preventable. 2018 has been a year when, over and over again, our Association has had to respond to fatal apartment building fires across the country. Astonishingly, sprinklers were required in apartment buildings more than two stories in height and with more than 16 dwelling units in the 2000 edition of the ICC codes. Eighteen years later, unnecessary deaths are still occurring in apartment building fires across the U.S.

NFSA’s Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board has also responded to this fire, with first-hand information about Chicago issues.

“Smoke alarms warn you when you have a fire and fire sprinklers stop a fire from becoming deadly,” said Tom Lia, Executive Director, Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board (NIFSAB). “Fire sprinklers were not required when this apartment building was built, and sadly, Chicago codes do not require fire sprinklers if this same building were built today.”

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), fires are more deadly today due to modern furnishings. A fire can become deadly in less than two minutes (NFPA 2018). Fire is fast. Unfortunately, children and older adults often can’t hear a smoke alarm or react fast enough to escape the smoke. Fire sprinklers are individually heat activated and only the fire sprinkler closest to fire goes off, keeping the fire small and allowing time for all to escape. We know that fire sprinklers buy time and time buys life. Fire and building codes are a minimum and should be adopted to protect lives and property in the future.

About the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA): NFSA was founded in 1905 and wants to create a more fire safe world and works to heighten the awareness of the importance of fire sprinkler systems from homes to high-rise and all occupancies in between. The Association is an inclusive organization made up of dedicated and committed members of a progressive life-saving industry. This industry manufactures, designs, supplies, installs, inspects, and services the world’s most effective system in saving lives and property from uncontrolled structural fires. For more information about fire sprinklers, how they work and access to additional resources and information, visit www.nfsa.org for the latest material, statistics and a dedicated team of fire safety advocates ready to serve all stakeholders in order to fulfill the vision of a safer world.

Contact: Vickie Pritchett

615-533-0305

_____ SOURCE: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chicago-apartment-fire-kills-eight-adds-to-list-of-tragic-apartment-fires-across-illinois-and-the-country-national-fire-sprinkler-association-responds-300702452.html

[seniorbrief]

This Climber Was Stuck in a Crevice for 22 Hours—Here’s How He Survived

This article originally appeared in the May 2016 issue of the International Edition of Reader’s Digest.

Alexander Mazurkevich/Shutterstock

The crevice is little more than a crack in the rough terrain, barely 50 centimetres wide. Curious, Seth Rowe stands at its edge, poised to go in. It is just before noon on June 20, 2015. The sun peeks out but it is still chilly in the Nottawasaga Bluffs, a rugged area in a snow belt about 140 kilometres northeast of Toronto, Canada.

Seth knows the temperature inside the crevice will hover around minus two degrees Celsius. But he loves the challenge of exploring caves and crevices and he figures that his jeans, T-shirt and the sturdy jacket he carries should be protection enough. I won’t be in long, he thinks.

At heart Seth, now 31, a plumber and pipefitter, is still a daredevil kid—an avid hiker and hunter, charming and sometimes irresponsible. He knows that after a night of partying with his buddies, he should be at home. But his wife, Jamie, also understands that he has to get away every once in a while. It is as much a part of him as his love for her and their two children.

“You’re a bad boy,” Jamie, 25, always says. “It’s part of why I love you.” Then again, he thinks, maybe this time I went too far. In his mind, he replays a conversation—okay, a fight—they had barely an hour earlier. “Where are you?” Jamie had asked on her cell phone, her tone clipped and angry.

“In the forest,” he said.

“Come home now! Remember we’re all going to a movie later—and I need some help around here,” she replied, a pointed reference to Joella, four, and 15-month-old Wyatt.

“OK, I’ll be home in an hour.” he replied. He thinks: But not while you’re mad at me.

Now, bracing his arms on the edge of the crevice to control his descent, he breathes in deeply and exhales to relax his muscles and make his 183-centimetre-tall, 70-kilogram body as small as possible—a trick he learned in his early 20s caving around here. Down, down he goes, between the ice-covered walls while his feet, in sturdy hiking shoes, cast about for purchase.

It does not matter that he has neither a rope nor survival kit for he has done this countless times before, in and out with nary a problem. Coming to a stop on a ledge, he opens his cell phone and uses it to illuminate his surroundings. The crevice walls come into glittering focus and his breath hovers in front of him. The smell is a mix of mould and earth, damp, heavy and dark.

Billion Photos/Shutterstock

After a few minutes Seth realizes if he goes any further, he won’t be able to climb out. He steps onto a rock ready to hoist himself up and out of the crevice. OK. One, two… Oh God! The rock gives way and Seth slides into the black void, through that tiny opening, like a finger donning a too-small ring.

There is no time to cry out.

There would be no one to hear him if he did.

Once he comes to a stop, Seth takes a few minutes to catch his breath. The sheer force of the fall has left him wedged like a cork in a bottle, with the tip of his nose squashed against one jagged wall and his back flush and raw against the one behind him.

He has no idea where he is. How long did I slide for? It felt like forever. It wasn’t a straight drop, either, for he knows crevices follow the whim of nature and erosion.

Stay calm, he tells himself.

He looks up and sees a crack of light about 20 metres above him. Phone for help, he thinks. But when he reaches for his cell phone he realizes, with a chill, that there would be no service that far underground. He tries to move upwards but the crevice holds him fast: a prison—maybe even a tomb.

Stop thinking like that! He tells himself sharply. One hour passes, then maybe two or three, but in the dark Seth loses track of time. He wonders what everyone at home is doing. Every once in a while, he calls out: “Help! Is anyone there?”

There is no answer.

Jamie will find me. She’ll find the truck and bring a rope. It becomes his mantra. Even though he parked his truck in an unploughed field about half a kilometre beyond where he usually leaves it, he has to believe his wife will find it.

He notices his hands and feet are numb from the damp and the fact that he has not moved for hours. He wishes he could put on the jacket he was carrying but there isn’t room. His knees are killing him.

So might the crevice.

That is when he begins to pray out loud.

“Dear God, I got myself in here, I know,” he said. “But could You help me out? Tomorrow is Father’s Day. I want to spend tomorrow with my family.”

It’s totally dark, and the close space feels as big as a cathedral. Then he hears snuffling and growls from above. What is it? There is a glint from a pair of eyes, golden and feral, staring through the opening: It’s a coyote, and Seth realizes it can smell his blood.

(Don’t miss the survival story of the man who was stranded at sea for 438 days.)

Patsy Michaud/Shutterstock

Frightened, he cries out, “Please, someone, help me!”

Then he hears a voice, or thinks he does: He’s been calling out all day.

I’m hallucinating.

But the voice repeats the question: “Where are you?” It is real. Relief floods through his body for he has been found and his icy ordeal will soon be over—or so he thinks.

At 8:05 p.m., Jamie’s cell phone goes off in the movie theatre in Collingwood, 23 kilometres away. She was about to settle into seats with the kids, fuming at her husband’s absence. She had gone to look for him earlier that afternoon but there was no sign of his truck—and he wasn’t answering his phone.

As she listens to the hiker who found him, Jamie begins to run, somehow managing to hold Wyatt close while dragging a protesting Joella behind her.

It is about 45 minutes before Jamie gets to the field because she calls a friend who agrees to meet her and take the kids.

At the clearing where the hiker heard her husband, she kneels by the crevice and calls out: “Seth! I’m here. I love you. We want you to come home.”

Fire Chief Colin Sewell and other members of the nearby Clear-view Fire Department are already on the scene when firefighters from the city of Barrie, a city 59 kilometres to the east, arrive. The team is prepared to rescue a man trapped in a crevice. It happens every year in this area. But Bill Boyes, then Barrie’s deputy fire chief, soon realizes this is going to be more difficult than originally thought. There was no obvious opening to get at Seth, and the team thinks he must have slid at an angle for at least six metres from the entry point and gone down approximately 20 metres. “We’ve got a call in to an off-duty guy on our force who is experienced in crevice-diving,” Boyes continues. “Right now, he’s our best hope.”

By 10 p.m., the site is lit up like an airport landing strip. David Dunt, the rescue expert, arrives. “Let me go down to get an overview,” he says. Thinking he will be in the crevice for 20 minutes or so, Dunt, 178 centimetres tall and 91 kilograms of pure muscle, puts a full-body harness on over his light clothing, claps on a hardhat with a lantern and headset. His colleagues lower him eight metres into the black.

Landing on a narrow shelf, he trains his flashlights downwards. The beams catch a tiny figure about 12 metres below him off at an angle more than 10 metres away. In between is the opening that Seth has been staring at for more than 10 hours, no more than 20 centimetres across, barely enough room for skinny legs to pass through, never mind a full torso.

“Seth?” Dunt calls. “I’m here to get you out.” Unspoken is the thought, Dead or alive. “Have you been into crevices before?”

“Yeah, lots of times,” Seth replies, his voice thick and slow from cold and lack of food.

Although Seth is woefully under-equipped, Dunt is relieved to learn that he understands the principles of caving, such as of muscle relaxation and diaphragm compression, and how to use a seat harness. But Dunt knows he is also probably hypothermic.

“We’re racing against him freezing to death,” he reports urgently into his headset. “We have to get him food—energy—and water. Because we can’t get him out without his help.”

The firefighter stays down, talking with Seth about life, his wife and kids—anything to keep the trapped man awake. At 10:37 p.m., he helps thread a weighted rope more than 12 metres into the dark, which Seth catches and somehow manages to secure. A rudimentary ferrying system ensures that at least Seth has water and energy bars and a thermal blanket.

(You won’t want to miss how these pilots survived a crash landing in the Alaskan wilderness.)

Shane Miller/Shutterstock

Next, firefighters send in a rescue harness, which Dunt talks Seth through putting on. It takes half an hour, with each minute, each second, filled with scrapes, grunts and searing pain.

“I can’t move my legs!” Seth cries.

“Yes, you can, Seth,” Dunt says, his voice steady.

Finally, around 11:15 p.m., after nearly 12 hours in the crevice, Seth is on the move. Firefighters pull him slowly, less than a millimetre at a time, but within minutes the screaming starts. It echoes through the crevice, wordless and panicked.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Dunt yells into the headset. “Drop him back! Talk to me, Seth!” Is his shoulder dislocated? His hip? If it is, we’re finished.

Although the screams stop, Seth, caught up in a haze of pain and fatigue, doesn’t respond. The firefighters start again, reeling him in like a big fish, centimetres forward and then back again. One hour runs into two, then three and four. Finally, Seth is shifted over the six metres so that now he is directly under Dunt and warming up a bit from a heater blasting into the crevice. But he still needs to get through that impossibly small gap. At that point Dunt hears rhythmic knocking, like a woodpecker. He realizes it is his helmet hitting the wall behind him; he can’t stop shivering. I have to get out before I become useless, he thinks. Hauled up, he is wrapped in thermal blankets. Another firefighter goes down to keep Seth talking.

Meanwhile, Boyes meets with Shewell again. It is nearing 3:30 a.m. They need more expertise. Shewell calls the Ontario Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, which dispatches the Toronto Fire Services to the scene. At 5:30 a.m., firefighters from the city arrive. Dunt is happy to see his old friend Chris Rowland among them. A stocky rescue specialist with a loud, commanding voice, Rowland soon takes charge.

“Quiet!” he yells as he kneels at the edge of the crevice. By now, there are about 50 firefighters and paramedics on the site. Seth has been in the crevice for 17 ½ hours.

Rowland outlines a plan: First, Toronto firefighters chip away at the narrow entrance to open the crevice up. Then, three of them in hardhats and protective glasses get into harness and pivot themselves to upside-down positions so they can use electric chisels to further enlarge that tiny gap by about eight centimetres.

“It should be enough for Seth to squeeze through,” Rowland says.

The last-ditch rescue operation begins at 6:14 a.m. For nearly three hours, the chisels whine and echo, punctuated by Seth’s cries as shards of rock fall on his head. The upside-down firefighters take turns coming up for breaks.

As the clock ticks towards 9:30am, the opening is wide enough to use ropes to carefully haul the still harnessed Seth up from the depths. But first Dunt goes back into the crevice to give his lifeline to Seth.

At 9:41 a.m.—nearly 22 hours after Seth went in—he rises slowly out of the ground, dirty, with shredded clothes, a body scraped raw and red and a bleeding gash on his head. It is as if the earth is giving birth to him.

Jamie takes his hand. He wants to tell her something. “I want a Big Mac and fries.”

Laughing out loud, Jamie turns to the paramedics and says, “He’s fine.”

She’s right, too. Miraculously, Seth spends only one night in hospital, where he is treated for hypothermia and abrasions to his chest and back.

At a celebration in Barrie on June 30 – Seth’s birthday – he and his family showed their appreciation of the legion of people who gave his story a happy ending. He spoke of how grateful he was for the chance to be more present as a father and husband. Now he and Jamie go out together as a couple, solid and loving.

“[It] would be absolutely horrendous to every year have Father’s Day be the day your dad didn’t come back,” he said.

To highlight that sentiment, Joella, now five, presented a daisy to Chief Shewell of the Clearview Fire Department.

“Thank you,” she said, “for saving my daddy.”

Next, find out how to save your own life in 12 scary emergencies.

Original Source -> This Climber Was Stuck in a Crevice for 22 Hours—Here’s How He Survived

source https://www.seniorbrief.com/this-climber-was-stuck-in-a-crevice-for-22-hours-heres-how-he-survived/

[bigboobshaunt]

Here’s the voice meme I was talking about! It’s creeping up on 10 minutes soooo strap in.

The last two questions and part of the previous one got cut off in recording somehow, so I’ll have to re-record them another time :/

Transcript below the cut.

"Heya, this is Jack Bisexualowain speaking and I'm about to do this sort of voice meme because I realized I didn't put my voice out there that often, which lead some people to inquire about my accent, so I decided to take questions from Tumblr dot com. So here they are!

Anon asks: What are some cool video games you first played this year?

"Gosh there's many... I feel like most games I've played this year have been good. Some underwhelmed and/or annoyed me, but no real stinkers I can think of. My favorites I think were Stardew Valley, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Bayonetta, Fallout: New Vegas, Night in the Woods, Golden Sun and its sequel."  

Trish @ingleaisle asks a threefer: Adélie Penguins or Rockhopper Penguins? Fave citrus smell/look (since they're all gros, velvet-feeling, and inedible)? East or West Gastrodon?

"Uhh I feel like my honest answer to the first might be Adélie Penguins BUT with the eyebrows of the Rockhopper Penguins, but since that kinda chimera doesn't exist yet, I'll go with the vanilla Adélie. My favorite citrus smell would be boring lemons, because I am a w-word who steals them from their trees, and though my autistic mouth also finds them gross, they at LEAST smell clean, which I can’t really say for oranges.... As for Gastrodons... I think both are pretty good, but if a gun was put to my head I'd go with the East Sea, love that blue-green mix!"

Anon2 asks: How many active blogs do you have?

"Let's see, there's my main of course, Bisexualowain, then there's my Fire Emblem sideblog, currently Braveprincesslucina, my gaming sideblog, where I post my liveblogs, which is Owainsgamecorner, and then my not safe for work sideblog, which I will not name here, but that I assure you contains no less complaining than my others blogs."

User @sheseesthefuture asks: What would you say are your top 5 personal fave horror movies :?

"Really tough question. I do like horror as a genre a lot, buuut I feel like it's not even an uncommon opinion that... most of it is bad? But either way, I have a fondness for the Scream series, Halloween series, Hellraiser, Jacob's Ladder (which is a good, cerebral one) and... well this is a weird one but Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which isn't scary all the time but still."

Anon 3 inquires something I was not expecting at all: do you think well see renewable energy overtake non renewable within our lifetimes?

"My hopeful side wants to say yes, because it's not like we don't have the tech ready, buuuut also I feel like capitalism is such a broken system that it just will not happen that easily… makes me angry just to think about it."

Moving on,

Wiz @heywizards asks another three-parter: What is the first video game that you played that you fell in love with and couldn't put down? Which video game genre is your favorite? How cute and great is Shane from Stardew Valley? :3c

"I would have to go with Pokémon Ruby, which was my first video game. I always wanted a system but I don't think my parents ever GOT them until the neighbor's kid got this, so they allowed me to ask for one for my birthday, and I loved that game so much... even though I didn't speak English at the time and got lost and sidetrack pretty much constantly. I somehow managed to beat Pokémon Crystal before it, even though I got Crystal like a month after.  I don’t think I'm MUCH of a genre person, I'm pretty adaptable as long as the game feels good, but I guess I'd say it's either RPGs or Survival Horror. As for the last one aaaa I’m already getting flustered just thinking about it, but Shane is such a wonderful character, both objectively and from his writing and due to the way I relate to him and besides, he's so cute and loving once you get past all the layers of self-hatred and insecurity... but even those make him very human in a way that's attractive to people with similar struggles and all, I guess. I love him so much!"

Anon 4 asks: Hey Jack! Do you play Fire Emblem Heroes? And if so, who's your favorite unit?

"Heya! Yes I do! For the longest time my phone didn't support it, because it was a dino, but I recently got a new one that DOES run it. I think you'd need to follow my sideblogs to see my posts about it though. But uhh my favorite unit is definitely Cain. He's the one I was looking forward to the most since before getting the game, and I was so SO lucky to summon him super early, haha! He's just really handsome and charismatic... plus he seems to be having a good time in it, as opposed to his last outing in FE12 when he was dealing decidedly with a lot. I also really love Festival Dancer!Olivia and Lady of Ballads!Azura, along with Brave Princess!Lucina, which I guess you could gather from my naming of my sideblog."

Ohhh alright this one... @calamitaswrath requests me to recite the opening narration to "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

"Alright here goes nothing! Sorry for my enunciation, because I didn't grow up with the english version, but: Water... Earth... Fire... Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are great, he still has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can change the world... save the world. thaat sucked.

Anon 5 asks what my favorite second generation units from FE14 are?

"In no particular order: Ophelia, Shiro and Rhajat."

Then Liesel @florinian asks: pick a character you love and what's one way in which you and this character are alike and one way in which you're different?

"I'm gonna subvert expectations a little here and pick Leliana from Dragon Age. I love her to death, but I'm about the least religious person I know, short of actually being an atheist (I'm agnostic for reference) and though that one's more setting-specific detail I also haaaaate Andrastianism. The way I'm similar to her is that I like to believe the best in other people and I wanna change when compared to the way I used to be, and just like in her story, I don't want to see myself becoming the people who've hurt me... sorry if that got kinda deep, oops."

Anon 6 says: Do you have rarepairs you wish weren't rarepairs?

"Rarepairs… that’s a funny word. Doesn't everyone? I feel like the one that comes to mind right now would be Mathilda/Sonya, which I kiiiiind of built myself? Other people ship it now independently of my influence and that's pretty cool, but I was definitely the… definitely the earliest earliest, so that's kinda something I'm proud of. I just think they'd gel pretty well together and could work on issues with mutual support, if only they ever interacted…"

Lastly, Ayla @gentleralts asks me what my quirk would be if I lived in the BNHA world.

“I’m kind of a sap when it comes to questions like this, and I usually pick teleportation, but I feel like that’s too vanilla for BNHA, so I guess the drawback would be that if someone were to shut my passage through time and space I would just get totally quantum-fucked… so if Horikoshi wants to kill me this way, I guess he has an out.”

And that’s about it… I’ll probably hate listening to this later but… fingerguns tchau tchau.

[bfb3-blog]

Sportliche Magazine “Translation”

This is my experience and translation of the article published in Sporlife Magazine (April, 17). Photos Borja Fernández & Joe Bishop.

MONTANE YUKON ARCTIC ULTRA – 300 Miles (5/2/17 – 188h)

To be honest, I don't even know where to start the story from... so much in such a little time... and, as my mother says, "when it doesn't hurt the ear, it does the nose"... but there is always something going on.

Everything started in the Marathon des Sables, while complaining and suffering, when a race colleague in the tent told us: "this is not tough. There must be a real tough one called the Yukon Arctic Ultra. A friend of mine tried it and he had to scratch with serious frostbite problems in his feet". Since that day in the tent, it's been already 3 years ago, I have this race in my mind as the next step to try to find a limit to my challenges.

When I came back from Sahara desert, I started looking for information and getting in touch with people that already had done the race. Nowadays it is pretty straight forward to find information on internet or Facebook, where the people is willing to share their experiences that will help you getting ready for the race... at least, you will be able to make an idea about what you might find.

That year, being a complete fool, I applied for 2.015 Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra race without knowing what was really going on. This is not an "usual" competitive race. It is true that there is a ranking, cut off times, etc... but we are talking about a race that a few people finish. The organization team estimates between a 10% and 20% of finishers. Although being fit is necessary, the mind strength is the driver, everyone's determination and the capability to stand the pain (physical or mental) what will make you be a finisher or not.

You can apply for 4 different distances: marathon, 100 mile, 300 mile and 430 mile. The challenge is a non stop foot, bike or ski race that follows the path that previously the mythic 1.000 mile dog sled race: the Yukon Quest. Any of the options you choose it is compulsory to carry everything you need to survive on your own; that means to pull from a 30 kg sled for many...many days (just the food... in the picture).

Just in case, this is not enough, we have to add the climate that a remote northern region like this, Canada northwest border with Alaska, has in February. This situation is completely new for me, someone coming from the mainly physical challenges like  Ironmans (Frankfurt, Embrun, Roth, Inferno, Swissman, Austria extreme Tri, Escape from Alcatraz...), Ultratrails (Marathon des Sables, Ultrapirineu, Eiger ultra, UTPE...) or swimruns (Otillo Engadin); at the end, a new kind of challenge I didn't know how to prepare for.

The previous time, I had to scratch early with frostbite in my fingers because a small problem with fuel (not that small at the end). I was really disappointed but it showed me what this race consists on. After that, I thought many times what could have happened if I would have continued in the course facing more "risky" situations (at night, with low temperatures...). This challenge doesn't allow any failure and what, in any other race would mean a scratch, here it could finish in a really dramatic situation.

It has been 2 years since I fully recover my mind and feel strong enough to try again this huge challenge that, after all, it has overcome my highest expectations.

In the previous months to the race I decided not to change my training schedule too much. The last race I did before the MYAU was a 100km trail run called “Hiru Handiak”; it was early in October so thought it would be more than enough, looking at my physical training. Having made that decision, I just tried to keep fit doing what I normally do and also, some touring ski. I didn’t really go for any “specific” training for the sled, cold weather or whatever it would be what I was going to find during the race. I saw some colleagues that even made races the previous months pulling from a wheel (Jethro De Decker - nextbigadventure.wordpress.com).

I was more concern on preparing the race from a mental prospective and also all the added ”issues” like food, tent, shoes… so I worked on getting information from people that really knew how to deal with these kind of situations.

To start this adventure, this time, I travelled a couple of weeks in advance to make sure the jet lag was over by the race day and to do some practice with other guys that were going to be later in the race. I meet some incredible people  during that week and the learnings were decisive for succeeding in the race (thanks Pam, Joanne and Stewart). These days I realized that, even having investigated and prepared everything for this very special situations, I didn’t have a real clue of what was really going on….again…sleep planning, tent and sleeping bag arrangements…

When I went back to the civilization I had to rearrange many things, food, some clothes and some other necessary materials.

What you do learn (and very quick) is that you have to do, what you have to do, with no excuses; if you have to eat (because it is the scheduled time to do it) you need to stop and do it; if you have to drink, you drink; f you need to… you do. If you don’t comply with this, you really notice the effects in a very short period of time, cold, fatigue, weakness… In any other race you probably could stop, take some time and recover or even keep pushing a little bit longer to reach the following check point, but, in this case, there is no way of turning back, there is no way of doing later what you should have done earlier.

D-day, H-hour, all the categories in the start line: marathon, 100, 300 and 430 miles. There were many more people in the race roster in the previous months but, that morning, only a few ones awaked on time (13 for the 300 mile race). Surprisingly, the 430 mile race was the most populated one.

Initially, the strategy was to sleep out from the 4AM-7AM gap, because this are suppose to be the coldest hours at night and consequently the hardest time to have a “proper” sleep time (if sleeping out there with minus “a lot”, lying on the floor in a square meter tent - or even a bivy bag can be considered a proper sleep time). Well, as said, this was the initial tactic for the night…first decision, first error (as I will explain later)… good start!!!

I started running the flat parts, trying not to wear too many clothes and keeping a good thermal balance in my body; first check point, mile 26, the marathon. In this part of the race a really noticed the decision I made the previous week of pulling from the sled with ropes, instead of rigid poles that many people used (I think this is the only right choice I made…this one, and taking m&m’s inside the sleeping bag).

We reached Rivendell with no problems at all. Easy way and fresh body; no issues. We even had time to catch up with other race colleagues. When in Rivendell, there still was daylight so I ate, drank, checked the feet and…let’s keep going! I left the check point with two friends, Tom and Shane, Belgium and Irish. We kept moving and a big moon came out; you could see even better with the moonlight than with the headlamps on. It was 11 PM when, following the erroneous strategy I previously mentioned, we decided to stop and sleep. We stopped, had dinner, set up the tent and try to sleep…yes, try…because we were not really tired and, in those outdoor conditions, if you are not ready to drop, you don’t sleep; at least, not the way you should. What a waste of time!!!!

At 3AM we started moving again. Soon we realized the decision of sleeping that early was not good at all. I started falling sleep, kicking all the stones on the way… a disaster. My escape colleagues were much stronger than me; they keep increasing the pace and we reached a quite tough uphill in which … I started sweeting!!! Forbidden!!!! In that moment, thankfully, I realized that was not the way of running that race and I made up my mind about having another short sleep. They continued and I stopped, set up the tent and…again…sleep for a while (a long while really, by the time I waked up it was later than the time I wake up at home during weekend!!!). That night was cold but nothing comparing with the low temperatures we were about to “suffer” the following days.

After that repairing sleep I reached Dog’s Grave check point where I could eat and fill my thermos to keep going for a long while. This check point was an outdoor station so we could go into tents or any other kind of shelter; just outside, as close to the fire as we could not to get very cold in the stop time. As soon as you stop in this kind of weather you need to wear your “go to” jacket (as the people used to call) not to freeze.

Eat, drink and fill the thermos and … let’s pull the 30 kg sled again…I was again on the trail. A few kilometers later I realized the all the sweet from the night that was “frozen” in my clothes melted with the fire at the check point and I started feeling cold. I had to stop again… what a….again???…so…stopped and made a wood fire to try to dry my clothes and get warm. That is what I mentioned before, “you need to do, what you need to do”… other decision probably would have meant scratching no long away.

When I got on the track again, that was km 70, more or less mile 44, I started feeling in my right foot what it was going to be my “every second pain” for the rest of the race. It started being a small discomfort in the right foot and it ended up being a huge pain and inflammation in both ankles… and I’m afraid it will also be for the next month as confirmed by the hospital emergencies Doctor the I landed in Bilbao.

No time to complaint, just needed to be focused and encourage myself to get to the next check point, Braeburn, mile 100. I spent the following hours through a very beautiful corridor of trees called “the tunnel of looms” (or something like that)…it really looks like a tunnel.

The pain was getting quite … annoying when I arrived at the check point (finally). When Igot in, I first took out my right shoe to see what was going on and I checked my right foot was like a ski boot, it was very … big? (what a view).

Anyway, I was feeling so satisfied that I just wanted to eat the equivalent to the typical Basque (from where I am, North of Spain) outdoor food, that in Canada is bacon and frites. While I was eating I watched many colleagues, that applied for the 100 mile race, coming in and finishing their challenge… I felt quite jealous and also angry with myself for having applied for the 300 mile one…If I had done so, I already would have finished the race…and instead… I had to do 3 times the distance Had covered at that time.

After sleeping for a couple of hours inside the check point (I had forgotten already what was sleeping in a bed) and drying my clothes, I left Braeburn looking forward to reach my next goal, Ken Lake….that’s the way it works… short and achievable goals… The following part of the track was going to be along huge lakes where the temperatures would even drop some degrees down. During the night, in the lakes, with no tree shadows, the moonlight and the northern lights brighter so much that I didn’t even need the headlamp light to see…it was stunning…but suddenly….Brrrrroooommmmmmm!!!!! “what a f…” I felt surprised/scared…a mix of everything for a moment…”is it the ice that is breaking?”…”I should run…”… but I soon understood that, if the ice was breaking I had no choice to get out from there. And again, Brrrroooooommmmm!!!!…I tried to concentrate in something else; if something had to happen… I had no chances, son…If you cannot do anything, just don’t be worried about it. After, in the check point I was told that the noise is completely the opposite …it is good, to hear it; it means the ice is merging, so… (they could have told us in advance…what a “complicate” time I spent on the lakes…).

Next check point Ken Lake, a hut in the middle of long lakes trail, easy to walk or even run, but tough to keep focus…long, boring, everything remains the same. The eyes keep trying to find the end of the lake but that peace moment never comes. I had to make huge efforts not to fall sleep, so I kept myself awake eating chocolate colored sweets (while I was saying the color of each before putting them in my mouth) and also singing loud the greatest hits of … whatever…

Once I reach the check point I suddenly realized it was an “external” check point in which you only could get inside the tent to eat, drink or check the hands and the feet…but I you wanted to sleep, you had to do it outside, beside a wood fire. I had something for dinner and decided to sleep a couple of hours before leaving. It was going to be a cold night so I needed to leave before the really cold hours if I could. I lied down beside the wood fire between an Italian couple. A couple of hours later, after a not very nice sleep, I woke up because I was freezing. The wood fire was off so it was like sleeping in the fridge… “let’s keep moving”

The trail continued across the lakes and I soon realized my bed time had not been good enough…what a pain in my ankles…. I hardly resisted until I finally found the end of the lake but as soon as I got out from the ice,,,”craaaack”… I felt how something was broken inside of me and I fell down on the snow.  I tried to stand up but I couldn’t without falling down again. “This is it” I thought; “I finally broke my tendons …how could I even think I could continue with this pain from km60 until…486!!!”…” I cannot walk a single step more. I give up here”. It was around 2 or 3 AM and still a lot to reach next check point Carmacks. Even pressing the scratch button, the snowdoos would take until 8AM to come and rescue me so I decided I had to set up the tent and try not to freeze in the middle of nowhere. It was not easy at all to prepare everything (I was exhausted) and when I finally made it, before I could press the scratch button, I felt sleep.

By the time I woke up, it was daylight and I thought my race was already over (I spent too much time sleeping) so I took it easy and, after taking more than 15 minutes getting dressed up, I started walking… just walking… my way to Carmacks. As I was walking I started feeling better (I also reminded that before sleeping I was thinking I had my tendons broken but…noooo! I could walk… and even run - if my turtle rhythm could be considered running). At some point I thought I could make it; these race is all about that, some moments you feel great, as I was at that time (I was shouting and singing from time to time) and other times you feel really low, crying and feeling really lonely and miserable… but at that moment I decided to go for it; next cut off time, Carmacks 22:30h.

Some snowdoos passed me by during that time of the race. They were thinking I probably wouldn’t reach the check point on time, so they kept an eye on me… but finally I made it. I reached Carmacks only a couple of hours before the cut off time. As soon as I entered the check point headquarter, based in a sportcentre, I sat on the ground and took my shoes off… I hardly could stand the pain… but the next hours trying to rest and sleep were even worse… every move was like feeling needles puncturing my ankles, so I wasn’t able to rest and I was getting frustrated about my on going physical situation. When the doctors in Carmacks checked my ankles they were surprised and not really sure of my possibilities to continue on the course. My painkillers were almost gone so I had to go to the shop next to the fuel station to by some more “sweeteners” for my next days.

After succeeding on my second cut off time, I left Carmacks on the way to McCabe. My goal was to keep going until I reach that check point…no sleep during the way… that meant around 18 h non-stop…. But my physical condition wasn’t really good so I had to rest the most confortable I could, and that meant, avoid sleeping in the tent.

One hour later, I found Marcelo, my Kiwi friend, who I was going to spend my day with. The good company and better conversation, made the time go by until, we suddenly looked back and saw a wolf, big and black amazing animal, coming behind us; it was like 30 meters behind, and when we stopped, he stopped too. Marcelo tried taking out his camera but it was too late; the wolf run out the track and we couldn’t find it. We were stunned!!! Wat a pity … but couple of hours later, again…turned back… and there he was… looking at us… but same again, before taking any picture, he run away. A little time later, a snowdoo passed us by and we told the guy what was going on, just in case there was any incident with the wolves. He told us there was nothing to worry about as long as the wolf was coming on his own and behind us; the problem could be if there were many and running next to us (trying to ambush us). He also reminded us the importance of not throwing away any rubbish or food the wolves could smell and follow.

The day had nothing more to show, so the moon came out and with it the  headlamps and the quite monotonous time that made us impatient for reaching the check point as soon as possible. My race colleague, Marcelo, was much more faster than me so he increased his pace to get to the check point sooner, so he could sleep some hours more. I couldn’t do much more than shout from time to time (because of my feet), sing like I was a X factor participant, no to fall sleep while walking, and… keep going.

I finally reached McCabe, 21 hour later, at 3 AM. I couldn't even take off my shoes. I was dying in pain and really tired… and the check point was packed… but, as always, there were 3 guardian angels (Trish, Sarah and Mandy), ready to help. I had to sleep on the floor below the kitchen table, the only gap there was in the room… but it was really confortable at that time.

After a little sleep, everyone was leaving and, as I was last arriving, I also was going to be, last leaving. I didn’t really min until I found out that my last segment, from Pelly Crossing to Pelly Farm wasn’t as short as I had in mind…good day start!!! I needed to be faster than I had planned, so no time for taking it easy.

The weather was changing that day. I wasn’t as cold as the previous days but this, doesn’t mean It was going to be easier…more temperature, around -15, meant snowfalls and risk of overflows along the trail.

This day was really tough because of the trail conditions. The lakes were full of powder snow so it was much more difficult to progress with the sled. I tried once wearing the snowshoes but it hurt even more, so I had to take them off. Although I didn’t see any half that day, my snowdoo colleagues told me there was one walking around the participants… so I just put on my headphones and kept going not thinking a lot about that.

I finally reached Pelly Crossing with the idea of staying just one hour, drink, eat and leave. I had no time to loose and I needed to hurry up If I didn’t want to be out of the race because of the final cut off time (8 days-192 hours).

At the time I was going to leave, Marcelo was entering the check point; he looked exhausted, his face looked like he hadn't slept for days. I couldn’t understand because he was really fit and he was doing easily… but something happened. He came and hugged me, telling me what he just had gone by… 3 wolves had surrounded him 4 hours ago and he had been running without stoping since them. I was shocked, but he was like… gone through one of those experiences in which you see your life passing by… for 4 long… eternal…hours. He could escape but he was done, he didn’t want to spend a single minute more out there… I really would loved to stay with him at that time but I had no hours left… I needed to go.

I left in the dark, around 10 PM thinking about Marcelo… and making my plans not to sleep outdoor. I put on the headphones again as a strategy to keep my mind focused on the track and not on… big and black animals. Only 2 stages left… reach Pelly Farm and come back.

5 hours later I couldn’t keep going. I was falling on the floor every now and then, so I set up my tent and prepared for a quick break…with headphones. I slept for 3 hours and I left thinking that the break was going to be the last of the race. It was really emotional. That was the first time I saw real possibilities of succeeding. I cried for a long…long…long time, thinking about my family and friends, a remembering all the sad and good moments I would take with me from that experience.

I reached Pelly Farm. It was like going into a film, what a place! I had read about the place, the lasagna and the people, but it was already much better, everything. It was a real pity not to spend a little more time there… but I was against the clock… last 13, 14, 15 hours left…and most of the in the dark at night.

The way back was going to be a nightmare…as it usually happens, when you know something is nearly there… it seems it never comes. I was falling sleep repeatedly but I couldn’t afford to sleep a single hour so I went back to my M&M’s counting and my singing concerts to keep me (and the surroundings) awake.

Suddenly, in front of me, coming the opposite direction, I found a pregnant girl pulling from a full packet sled. She stopped and chat for a couple of minutes. I was really surprised because it was around 2AM, she was very very very pregnant and… pulling from a bigger sled than mine. She left and I continued my way to Pelly Crossing until, five minutes later I thought I probably had hallucinated… I needed to stop, relax and rest; although I couldn’t spend time sleeping I tried to relax and prepare a hot meal to stop fro a little while. After finishing the race, in a dinner with other racers, Laura Trenton, an Italian athlete arrived before me, told me she had see the pregnant lady too. I will never know, but it is quite surprising any of the options, hallucination or reality… so I will probably believe there are ghosts all around the world… also in the Yukon….

At 6:30 AM I finally reached Pelly Crossing. Marcelo and my guardian angels were the waiting for me and, even if I normally cry when I finish such a hard race, this time it was also different in that way… I arrived dying in pain and the only thing I could do is shout as letting all the fury I had inside keeping me on the trail, go… but, as they would told me at home “If you like the scratching then you do not mind the lice” (that’s the most accurate translation I found).

[thereviewingdead-blog]

Worst walking dead characters  (Main)

Worst walking dead characters of all time

10. Beth

Poor Beth. The oft-overlooked more youthful girl of Hershel Greene, Beth was on the show for near four seasons, yet you’d experience serious difficulties up with a modest bunch of times she emerged in any important way. The issue with Beth is that the show’s journalists never appeared to realize what to do with her. She possessed the frail, not-useful for-anything-helpful part for the greater part of her residency, to the point where it felt like she was kept around only to keep Baby Judith alive, as she was regularly indicated dealing with Rick’s newborn child girl. Things enhanced significantly for Beth in the last 50% of season 4 and particularly in season 5 with the clinic storyline, yet and still, at the end of the day it felt like short of what was expected, as she was killed off right when she was getting to be noticeably fascinating. Such a waste.

9. Child Judith

Better believe it approve, this current one’s somewhat of a cheat since it’s hard to gage Judith as a character given that she can’t talk yet. To be reasonable, Judith works as an image of mankind’s future, so there is legitimacy to her proceeded with presence on the show. Nonetheless, in case will highlight a baby kid in a show about the end times, you can’t generally expect that individuals will go gaga for something that blocks the other characters’ advance on a close steady premise. Judith is basically a plot gadget and an every now and again irritating one at that. The girl of Rick Grimes and sister of Carl is time after time utilized as an approach to falsely build strain – There’s a man debilitating to kill the infant! Look out, a zombie is shambling appropriate toward that transporter! – to the point where it’s turned out to be tedious. We don’t have anything against Judith as a man (she’s likely a really incredible child once you become more acquainted with her) yet she reduces the show much more than she includes and consequently, we need to rank her as one of The Walking Dead’s most exceedingly awful.

8. Tyreese

It feels wrong to need to incorporate Tyreese among such organization, yet the reality of the situation is that he never at any point verged on being the sledge employing renegade that comic perusers were anticipating that him should be. No doubt about it: marking Tyresse one of the most exceedingly bad characters on The Walking Dead is no thump against performer Chad Coleman, who did the best with what he needed to work with in his time on the show. No, the genuine issue with Tyreese is that the authors never truly made sense of what to do with him. His part in the funnies as Rick’s correct hand man was at that point involved by Daryl when Tyreese landed on the scene back in season 3 and starting now and into the foreseeable future, he never truly found a strong place in the troupe. Regardless of whether deliberate or not, Tyreese transformed into the metaphorical offspring of the gathering, not able to adapt to the repulsions around him and depending on pacifism – a splendid, at the end of the day unsuccessful endeavor to give Tyreese a reason on the show. His demise in season 5 was irrefutably shocking, however more so since we never got the chance to see Tyreese transform into the considerable character he ought to have been.

7. Ron

I wrangled about incorporating Sam in this section also, however with regards to the bound Anderson tribe, Sam’s more seasoned sibling Ron is quite recently the most noticeably bad. Presented in the last 50% of season 5, the Andersons are a useless family living in Alexandria who rapidly ended up plainly one of the show’s most noticeably awful gathering of characters. There’s no genuine need to really expound concerning why Pete was dreadful in light of the fact that he was all the more an exaggeration than a real character, yet his eldest child adhered around sufficiently long to wind up noticeably a steady wellspring of inconvenience for Walking Dead watchers, as well as different characters on the show. Ron turned from a potential companion for Carl Grimes to needing to murder him, however did as such unconvincingly (it appeared like Ron needed Carl dead more to steal Enid than the way that Rick slaughtered his dad, which was a flawed inventive decision). Notwithstanding Carl’s earnest attempts to thump some detect into this nitwit, Ron ended up being terrible to the end, shooting Carl in the eye while being eaten by walkers. At any rate we don’t need to endure this trick any longer.

6. Dale

A great deal of Walking Dead fans appear to have a weakness for Dale, however a lot of that conceivable stems from the way of his passing and how unnecessarily sad it was (much appreciated Carl). On the off chance that you really set aside some opportunity to glance back at Dale’s chance on the show, what rises is a hassling old man who always embedded himself into other people groups’ business. In spite of the fact that he was situated as the voice of reason in juxtaposition to the harder line generally taken by any semblance of Rick and Shane, Dale’s ethical posing was utilized by the scholars more as an approach to slow down time in the scandalously ordinary second season then to convey convincing show. It’s nothing unexpected truly that the show appeared to recover energy the minute Dale ended up to be walker chow.

5. Enid

Despite the fact that Carl still has his minutes, the last couple of seasons have made a praiseworthy showing with regards to of turning him from a bothering tyke who always annoyed watchers into a shockingly sure and balanced young person (with just a little measure of tension for good measure). Shockingly, it appears as though it’s inconceivable for The Walking Dead to continue without the dreary, angsty adolescent figure of speech, as prove by the absolutely unlikable Enid. Yes, seeing your folks being eaten by walkers is true blue justification for some level of sorrow and doubt of the world, however that doesn’t make Enid’s consistent grim demeanor and standoffish state of mind any simpler to persevere. As Glenn and essentially every other character who’s needed to endure her have over and again needed to advise her, everybody has lost somebody they think about and there’s no reason for floundering in self centeredness when survival is the very pinnacle of concern. It’s not really an unexpected that Enid as of now positions close to the highest point of watchers’ most loathed characters on the show and it’s difficult to see that changing unless she pulls a Carl and does an entire 180 in the state of mind office.

4. Father Gabriel

Presently in his second full season on the show, we’re still unable to distinguish what reason Father Gabriel serves. At an early stage, this apprehensive minister was in any event somewhat intriguing because of his indistinct fidelities and a dim backstory including the previous parishioners of his congregation, yet Father Gabriel rapidly destroyed his welcome. Gabriel hasn’t generally done anything of legitimacy or in particular, done anything that would make watchers really think about him as a character. The part of religion in a zombie end of the world is a charming subject if executed effectively, however The Walking Dead has neglected to profit by this generally as a result of Father Gabriel’s poor portrayal. Season 6 has gained ground in making Father Gabriel all the more balanced, as he’s at long last begun venturing up and adding to Rick’s gathering as opposed to depending on them to tidy up his wrecks, yet it would consider some important next-level advancements to give penance for the character’s past sins.

3. T-Dog

The way that T-Dog made due until season 3 is a stun that despite everything we haven’t exactly recouped from over 3 years sometime later and that is on the grounds that T-Dog was only a terrible character, adroitly and evidently. Clearly T-Dog is a horrible name for a character, however when you really begin to consider the way this is a person who told other end of the world survivors that his name was T-Dog and they were thoroughly cool with calling him that, it loans the early periods of The Walking Dead a demeanor of the crazy that simply wasn’t required. Beside his name, T-Dog never did much else to separate himself as somebody to pull for. Without a doubt, he appeared like a sufficiently pleasant person, yet would you be able to consider one characterizing character attribute for him that doesn’t include the shade of his skin? Most likely not and that is the reason T-Dog unquestionably should be called one The Walking Dead’s unequaled most exceedingly bad characters.

2. Andrea

Trust it or not, Andrea is one of the best characters in the funnies, which makes it all the all the more shocking that the Andrea we got on the TV arrangement was an aggregate failure. Andrea was as a matter of fact one of the better characters in the show’s initial keep running, with the loss of her sister and her hesitance to bear on living being convincing storylines. In any case, at some point through the span of season 2 and particularly in the third season, Andrea quit being a character to pull for and rather ended up noticeably one to effectively root against. Her inadequacy prompted individuals getting shot (we can in any case never pardon her for shooting Daryl) and her guileless trust of the Governor’s each word still stands as one of the show’s most exasperating plots. She settled on such a large number of absurd decisions in her time on the demonstrate that her demise toward the finish of the third season was for all intents and purposes ridiculous when it ought to have been grievous (gone ahead Andrea – you could have made due in that live with Milton). Because of her persistently inept de

1. Lori

Could whatever other character truly best Lori Grimes as The Walking Dead’s most noticeably bad character? No, no they proved unable. Not exclusively did this part to a great extent squander the gifts of Sarah Wayne Callies, who is by and large entirely amiable in different exhibitions, yet she was only a steady wellspring of disappointment for watchers and different characters alike. Lori basically had two modes: agonizing over Carl and treating Rick awfully. Presently, we’re not saying that both of those qualities consequently makes Lori an awful character, yet given how habitually The Walking Dead dunked into those wells , Lori certainly develops as the show’s most noticeably awful character. Keep in mind that time when she advised Rick to kill Shane and after that got frantic at him when he did? No doubt, that is Lori more or less: an inadequately drawn vixen whose sole vital attribute is being a terrible mother. Her demise was one of the show’s roughest, no doubt, however that had more to do with how it influenced Carl; nobody was pitiful to see Lori go.