#it’s just so mid. which is the worst offence imaginable

[sonic-adventure-3]

sorry to be a hater </3 anyway sonic forces is not a very enjoyable game!

[pepperonyspizza]

Day 3: Soulmates AU 

No Warnings, Platonic Ironhusbands, Pepperony, Angst and Fluff

The first time Tony feels the skin of his arm tingle is when he’s 15 years old. 

He’s just moved into his dorm room at MIT, still unsure of his father’s decision to send him here at this age. He doesn’t feel like he belongs and the confused, judging and even angry looks he’s received from other people on campus do little to ease his worries. They must know who he is and aren’t all that happy about it. 

Tony is sitting on his bed, studying the unfamiliar items that give him a vague idea about his roommate when he hears the door open. Jumping up from the bed, he prepares himself for the worst. He only hopes that the other guy won’t request to change rooms upon realizing who he has to share his space with. 

The man that enters is a few years older than Tony and bafflingly handsome. He seems surprised upon seeing a stranger in the room but recovers quickly enough and, to Tony’s surprise, smiles pleasantly while stretching out his hand. 

“Nice to meet you. I’m James.”

It takes Tony a moment to catch up with everything that’s happening. 

“Tony,” he says lamely, reaching to take James’ offered hand. 

That’s when he notices the weird sensation on his lower arm. He gasps and pulls away, ignoring the other man’s confused look in favour of pulling up the sleeve of his hoodie. Tony watches with wide eyes as the smooth blue lines write out a name. 

James Rhodes

Only when James makes a similar surprised noise is Tony able to tear his gaze away from the writing to look up. Indeed, the other man is clutching his arm as well and even though his hand covers part of the mark, Tony can see his name engraved in his roommate’s skin in the same beautiful blue colour. 

“Holy shit,” is the first thing to come out of his mouth. 

James simply nods, his eyes still fixed on his mark. Tony isn’t sure what to make of the man’s expression, he’s always been awful at reading people. Is he disappointed? Sad? Angry? He can’t imagine the discovery of having Tony Stark of all people as your platonic soulmate to be a thrilling one. 

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes when James fails to speak up. He doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for since he’s had nothing to do with this. People don’t get to choose their soulmates, the universe does - or at least that’s what his mother tells him. Still, he already feels bad for the guy. “I didn’t know-” “Of course you didn’t,” James interrupts him, the words causing Tony’s blood to run cold. “You didn’t do this. It’s fate, I guess. And why are you apologizing in the first place?” The older man finally looks up at Tony and immediately frowns at what he’s seeing. “Dude, are you okay? You’re pale as hell.” “I’m fine.” “Are you sure? Did I give off that bad of an impression for you to be scared?” “No!” Tony shakes his head. “That’s not it. I’m not disappointed or anything.”

“Then what’s with the long face?”

“I thought that… you might be,” he admits, weakly gesturing at his arm. “I know my dad isn’t a very popular man and I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that I-”

“I’m not thinking anything here. I don’t know you, man.” James takes a step forward, which brings him close enough to rest a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Which we’ll have to change. Have you already eaten dinner?” 

Tony opens his mouth but besides an incoherent unintelligible gurgle, nothing comes out. The grin James shoots him is enough to make him blush and he quickly shakes his head before he gets the chance to make an even bigger fool of himself. 

“Good. How does pizza sound?” 

“I love pizza,” he says in a quiet voice. 

Frankly, he has still trouble believing that he’s being accepted like this. James is right, he doesn’t know Tony but when has that ever stopped anyone from judging him? It’s almost impossible that he’s gotten this lucky with at least one of his two soulmates. 

That’s the exact reason why he is your soulmate, a small voice in the back of his head reminds him. 

“Let’s go then.” James squeezes his shoulder once before letting go and turning back towards the door. “I know this great place right around the corner. You’ll love it.” 

Tony says nothing as he follows his new friend but the smile on his face says it all. 

~*~

The second time Tony feels the skin of his arm tingle is when a stranger barges through his office door to tell him that a mistake has been made in accounting. 

Truth be told, he’s pretty hungover and not entirely sure if this is what’s happening or if his imagination is to blame for all of it since the woman does look like something that could very well come out of his dreams. But she’s too angry for that, doesn’t even acknowledge Tony when he shoots her one of his very special grins and threatens Happy with a can pepper spray. 

That certainly isn’t part of his usual dreams. 

“It’s already, Happy. I got this,” he tells his distressed security guard. The man nods and quickly exits the office, leaving the two of them alone. Tony gets up from his desk, hissing at the pain that erupts inside his head. He rubs his temples while addressing the stranger. “And you are?” 

“Virginia Potts,” the woman with the remarkable red hair says. 

She’s clutching a file in her hands, apparently the one with a critical mistake. Tony doesn’t really care about this kind of stuff and normally lets Obadiah take care of it. His godfather has always been much more interested in the company than Tony ever was - but the older man is away on a business trip and asked Tony to have an eye on everything until his return. 

“Listen, Potts. While I have no doubt that whatever you’re here for is important-” “It is.  ” “Yeah, I’m sure of it. But the thing is that my head hurts and all that yelling earlier didn’t really help with that, so how about you come back some other time and-”

He never gets to finish his sentence, too distracted by the sudden sensation on his right arm. Only once has he felt this soft pressure on his skin and even through the fog of his hangover, Tony realizes what’s happening. 

With absolutely no grace or elegance, Tony shoves the sleeve of his expensive suit out of the way to watch as a second name appears on his skin. This one is red, much like her hair, something he would take the time to admire if he wasn’t positively freaked out. 

Virginia Potts 

There it is. His soulmate is standing right in front of him, frozen in place. He frowns at her rigid figure, unsure if she understands what is happening. She certainly hasn’t made any move to look at her own wrist and from the way she’s still holding onto that file, Tony can’t see if she has his name, or any name for that matter, on her arm. 

“Did you…?” 

He trails off mid-question but that’s alright because Virginia (yeah, they’ll have to do something about that name - it doesn’t fit her at all) is nodding her head slowly. Upon her confirmation, Tony lets out a long breath. He’s heard about people not receiving their mark when meeting their alleged soulmate and although Tony never cared too much about it in the past, it’s a relief that he’s not so unlucky. 

“Mr Stark-”

“Tony, please.” “I don’t think that’s appropriate for me to call you,” she says carefully and it’s enough for Tony to laugh. 

“We’re soulmates. My name is literally tattooed on your arm. I think we can let this pass.” 

“But-”

“No buts, Pepper. My name is Tony. Mr Stark was my father.”

“Pepper?”

“No offence but Virginia is a rather boring name. Not that I don’t enjoy having it on my arm! But I think after that little stunt you pulled on poor Happy, this is a very fitting nickname.” 

Pepper (yes, this is so much better) rolls her eyes at his childishness but her posture relaxes and she finally drops the file on the table separating them, revealing her mark. Tony can’t describe the feeling rising up in his chest upon looking at it but he’s certain that he’s never felt it before. 

“Am I allowed to call you something completely absurd as well?” she asks, a slight twinkle in her eyes as she looks down at his mark. She’s trying to be subtle judging by the way she blushes when Tony turns his arm to show give her a better view. “I’m sorry that you’re stuck with such a boring name.”

He clicks his tongue.

“I told you that I don’t mind. I don’t mind it one damn bit.” His comment earns him another eye roll. Tony doesn’t know if that’s a good sign, although she’s still here. She hasn’t run away cursing and screaming much like he has expected her to do, and he’s counting this as a win. “How about you? I know my name is fascinating but people tend to dislike the person it’s attached to.” 

It’s supposed to come out as a joke but something in his voice must give him away because Pepper looks at him in surprise. That isn’t good. He doesn’t like it when people can look through his facade. It makes him feel exposed and he already toys with the idea of reaching for his glasses that are laying on the desk in front of him. 

Then again, there is a reason that this woman is his soulmate - or at least Tony thinks so. Maybe it’s not the best idea to hide from her. 

“I think…” Pepper pauses, either because she actually has to think about her following words or because she simply likes to watch him squirm, which he visibly does. “I’ll have to find out for myself.” 

Her answer catches Tony off guard, taking him back to all those years ago when he first met Rhodey. He told Tomy something similar, had given him a chance instead of judging someone he’d never met before - and Tony can’t believe that the same thing is happening again. “Right, that makes sense,” he says quickly, afraid that Pepper will change her mind if he gives her too much time to think about it. “What do you say about dinner? Tonight? I can cook, or nearly burn down the house and then order us something.”

She doesn’t laugh but Tony is almost certain that she wants to. 

“How about tomorrow? It’ll give you time to get rid of your hangover and take a look at that accounting errors.” She points at the file on his desk. 

He’s nodding before she has even finished speaking. He’ll look over anything she puts in front of him, not only because anyone determined enough to get past security must actually be passionate about their job but also because she’s giving him a chance. A real chance. 

Tony doesn’t get much of those. 

“It’s a date.” He immediately corrects himself when noticing Pepper’s glare. “Not a date?” “We’ll see,” she says before turning around and walking towards the door. “Look at the file!” is the last thing out of her mouth and then Tony is left alone in his office, the headache coming back full force once his brain registers that the moment has passed. 

He falls back in his chair, clutching head and groaning loudly but there is a smile on his face and he has a feeling that this will be the last hangover he’ll have to

[teabooksandsweets]

Very Long Post On Cancel Culture, Wokeness And Tumblr

Warning: This text is not one bit ordered because it all belongs together and I write it down as it comes to mind, and I also stray off topic a lot.

Also: This text is NOT about how all people are too soft or special snowflakes or too sensitive or anything of that sort. On the contrary.

I am glad that people finally begin to speak out against cancel culture, but their approach to it is usually wrong.

It’s not just that it doesn’t matter if people maybe were not perfect(ly woke/pc) in the past, and can change. What really matters is that people don’t have to be perfect and woke and pc at all.

And I am saying this for an entirely different reason than you might think, for a different reason than people usually speak out against political correctness, and “sjws”, etc. The problem is: all this makes people less kind, less considerate, less caring and open towards others. It makes them hateful and hostile and selfish.

In the late 00s/early 10s everyone was a relativist, saying how there was no right or wrong, etc. and luckily that’s over. But in the mid-to-late-10s people began to be absolutely obsessed with morals in an entirely corrupted way.

The thing is this: people should always strive to learn and to behave well and kindly. Generally. Everyone. Always.

But people ought to be generally kind and good, not specifically perfect in regards to very specific things, and otherwise absolutely hateful, as is nowadays encouraged, especially on tumblr.

Tumblr cares about specific social issues. All of these are incredibly important. But tumblr doesn’t see the Big Picture, doesn’t connect humans to each other, fails to recognise that all humans are human and should treat each other well.

Instead, to tumblr, the smallest offence of a Very Specific Kind, one careless word, one lack of knowledge, is seen as the worst crime imaginable. But truly bad, truly evil behaviour of another sort, a sort that for some reason isn’t condemned by tumblr, is seen as unimportant, sometimes even encouraged. “It doesn’t matter if you harm people and make them suffer, if you are hateful or dangerous, as long as you remember the strict codes we have made up.”

All this is done without any sort of coherent logic or consideration. Different social issues (e.g. sexism and racism) are sometimes played out against each other to make a point, sometimes blended to make a different point, as long as the person making the point can use it to appear as woke or good as possible.

It is seen as absolutely fine to harm great many of the people in whose name one claims to do good, if that brings one closer to the goal of Doing Good In Their Name For Everyone To See.

Minorities and people who are for some reason often oppressed are taken up by people who are (in that sense) more privileged as a sort of “cute little pet” to be infantilised and misused, in order to make a point, or maybe just to offend a family member one doesn’t like, or simply to Appear As Woke As Possible.

(The patronising attitude towards minorities also often shows in the context of religion. There are so many posts on tumblr claiming to support a specific (often oppressed) religion, only to make plenty of other posts on how they hate specific aspects of another religion (usually Christianity, but not necessarily) or of religion in general, which this particular religion shares. But of course—some people (usually people of colour) are “excused” for being religious, even if their actual faith is looked down upon.)

Groups of people are only seen in the context of one Time And Place (today’s USA) and members of these groups in other times and places are judged and treated in exactly the same one as one would judge and treat their people in That One Time And Place.

Good manners and generally kind and considerate behaviour are rejected for being elitist and snobbish and antiquated, and instead replaced by a perverted sort of Political Correctness, which is by far more elitist and excluding, overly specific and only benefiting a few people, and free of any sort of warmth or kindness, instead expecting people to pass a test of sorts, to remember the latest overspecific information, and to repeat it correctly, regardless if one understands it, regardless if one actually applies it towards actual people.

Being considerate of others, treating them well, not behaving absolutely horridly should not be special. And the idea to take away all good manners, all kindness, all consideration, because they are supposedly outdated or even elitist, and to replace it with a stiff and superficial degeneration of what used to be political correctness, so that people behave well in certain circumstances (and not at all otherwise) out of nothing but fear is Not Good.

Pseudo-PC behaviour is even sometimes used to disguise hostility towards the people it should actually protect, you can harm people as long as you are Saying The Right Things.

(This also shows in the treatment of fictional characters. A serial killer might be a fan favourite, but once they say something racist or otherwise bad it’s like “uh, I can’t believe they did that! Now my fave is problematic!” No, your fave has always been very problematic and now there’s just another bit that shows what you should have known for a long time!)

Groups whose actual intention is supposed/claimed to be of a social and helpful nature are destroying themselves from within, attacking their own members or subjects of care in precisely the manner in which they claim outsiders do.

People are actually speaking out in favour of bullying people “if they deserve it” even though people always find “good reasons” to bully and harm people, and claiming that particular people deserved it is their go-ahead. As someone who has been bullied, I can assure you that people always find reasons, and if they are encouraged to bully people who “deserve it” they will make sure that they appear to deserve it.

People are encouraged to denounce people, which specifically means to accuse people of something to the personal benefit of the accuser, usually either made-up or twisted. I repeat this: People are not encouraged to report people for doing something bad, they are encouraged to denounce them, which has a very different and very specific and very, very harmful meaning.

Even more so, whatever accussation of a person is made, is believed. “Innocent until proven guilty” has been abolished. The moment a person makes a claim on someone the judgement has been made.

Even more so, well-meant, but politically incorrect things are considered worse than pc hate. If a person knows all the language, has all the background info, they can be personally hostile. If a person actually means to be kind, but is doesn’t go about it the “right way” is considered horrible (eg. a man who may be a unintentionally sexist but who doesn’t mean any harm is seen worse than a true misogynist who knows feminist lingo).

Even more so, “tumblr swjs” much too often adopt concepts of their actually hateful people. For example, while actual Cultural Appropriation is a horrible thing, people on here take it as far as “all cultures are valuable but they Need To Stay In Their Place and Never Mingle and Make Them Impure”. Which is precisely the argument of many... what? Ah, yes, white supremacists. Yes, you here me right. Not all WPs openly admit that they hate all people who aren’t white. No, many claim that they just want to keep people seperate, just like so many of the people on here who claim to be anti-racist. But cultures have never been seperate, many cultures people think to have nothing to do with each other have influenced each other greatly, and others that people were one and the same culture are actually not.

(In that vein, people on here also don’t understand that racism is always bad, but also always different, and that that dividing people into “white” and “poc” is once again a very Modern Day USA thing, and that people can be racist in many more shapes, and that what people have been considered white or not has changed greatly over the years. All racism is bad, but not all is the same.)

But even more so, in the name of social justice, many methods of actual fascists have been adopted. People don’t notice it, because the primary focus is not on what things are done, but on who does them and to whom they do it.

But that’s a particular problem. Consider the concept, not the victim or the culprit. Even if you apply it to people “who deserve it” it does. not. help. if you model for path to social justice after bloody revolutions that led to fascist governments, or if you systematically (help to) ruin people in the same manner as fascist states did and do. Perhaps I am biased. Perhaps I am simply a German who is frightened of seeing people on the internet telling others it were their moral duty to persecute people in manners common in nazi times and/or the gdr. But perhaps people should also consider whether it really makes sense to condemn people for using the term “witch hunt” outside of sexism. Because it’s also a method, a structure, no matter to whom it is applied, or why.

But to get back to the terrible lack of proportion. This is especially relevant in regards to celebrities. The bar is so high and so low at the same time, and so randomly adjusted, that people are praised and put on pedestals for absolutely no proper reason, simply because they acted like normal decent people, and then, just as quickly, pushed off it, and condemned, just for acting like normal decent people. Normal = nonetheless flawed, because: human. There’s so much undeserved hate following so much praise, usually unexplained, so that people just join in nwithout even knowing what “good” or “bad” that person has done. People are glorified for nothing, and then ruined. And what does it teach normal people?

To always look out, to always be frightened. To worry about every thing one says or does. Not about the way one treats others—treating people badly is a power move, of course, and general decency is entirely insignificant. Just to remember the special jargon of a superficial political correctness, and sometimes even the in-jokes of people. (I have once witnessed people bullying a child out of this site, claiming she was homophobic, because she didn’t understand a gay in-joke. You only get that on tumblr. I hope.)

And because people constantly have to prove that they are not bad, they can not even be normal. It’s not enough to be normal, considerate, kind, but imperfect people—everyone has to absolutely perfect, by standards set by some random people who claim to know better, and whenever people just appear particularly good by those people’s standards (especially if they are something Inherently Evil, like men) they get praised to be Especially Different Someones And The Only Good People Of Their Sort. Until they got found out, are finally proven to be normal, decent human beings, like the majority of all people, and are suddenly brushed aside, hated forever, another point made to prove that This Sort Of People Is Always Bad. (To this adds: Too many bad things are immediately attatched to a specific group of people, even if it is commonly done by various groups/all people/actually the people complaining about it.)

I mean, sure. Tumblr is the first place in which I’ve seen people who criticise Christianity don’t do it for the obvious problems in churches and with some of their members, but for the concepts of loving one’s neighbour and forgiveness. The first place in which I have seen people who “advocate” for human rights also support the death penalty and vigilante murder. The first place in which I have seen people talk unironically in favour of the French revolution and the USSR.

But, kids, I know, most of you are over-excited and extremely well-meaning teenagers, and it’s important to rebel, and all, and I hope you will never outgrow your social conscience, but you should really outgrow the way you apply it. Because there’s people among you who don’t mean well, and who take advantage of you.

I mentioned the (luckily) outdated relativism earlier, and I need to say more about it. It’s mingled its shades of grey with today’s black-and-white mindset. In the past, nobody could citicise people for doing something because nothing was seen as really good or bad. Now everything is either good or bad, and people still can’t critise someone for doing something they don’t like—unless they prove it’s bad. You can’t just say “Oh, this is not for me. I don’t like it.” Or even “This or that aspect of this should be looked at critically.” No. You have to say “Here I Will Prove Why This Is Evil And Shouldn’t Be.” Criticising someone, or just disagreeing, can’t be done out of worry over hurting their feeling, just as it was in the olden days (aka ca. 10 years ago) of Everyone Should Do As They Like, so what to do instead? Prove they are Bad and Everyone Who Doesn’t Agree That This Is Bad Is Also Bad. “Not my cup of tea” is over, everyone has to drink the same tea, always.

To this adds that things that people don’t like are always equated to things that are really undoubtedly bad. Thanks to this, actual terms used for actually bad things lose their meaning, and the demonisation of harmless things ultimately leads to the trivialisation of what’s truly bad. Words have lost their meaning and are used just as one pleases in order to “call someone out”.

(A particular common matter on tumblr is the equation of pedophilia and age gaps between adults; but the issue that many adults on tumblr seem to consider themselves children and seem entirely concided that they could also become victims of child predators, whereas they themselves can prey on children because they like Disney movies or whatever; and many children on tumblr think they had a right to patronise adults, is a different issue about which I really don’t care to talk right now. The idea that people also shouldn’t be in relationships with people who may have some sort of societal advantage over them, also holds plenty of implications that make me very uncomfortable, but about which I also really don’t care to talk right now.)

To come back to an example mentioned earlier. Take misogyny and racism. Two bad things, two things to fight against, two things that shouldn’t be exploited to fight the other. To say “I want to fight the bad treatment of women, and specific things are prevalent in specific cultures therefore I can be hostile and prejudiced towards these people.” is not good feminism, not even bad feminism, it’s plain racism, and nothing else. But to say “This thing may be really harmful to a lot of women is valuable to people of this or that culture, so one has to support it.” is also not anti-racist in the least, it’s just an attempt to appear open minded by people who are in no way affected by it. And these are two examples—it goes far beyond racism or misogyny.

There’s plenty of very right and good posts on tumblr on how people should benefit from society, rather than society benefitting from them. The same should be applied, for example, to feminism, and anti-racism, and other social causes. They should be positive and helpful to the people who need their help, and they need to work together. These are just two examples, to all other work to help people of all sorts applies the same.

If you don’t ask yourself “How do I help individual human beings, and how does my cause help some of them?” but instead ask “How do I help My Specific Cause That I Care About, regardless of the people?” you are doing it wrong.

And tumblr woke culture teaches that all humans are are seperated into little groups, which sometimes overlap, and that all people within these groups are exactly the same. But all humanity is one big group, and every human being is an individual, and some individuals have more in common with each other than others, but all in all, we all do belong together.

But I am not saying this to encourage even more people to attack others for caring about a specific social issue, seeing that as prove that they only cared about that. People cannot probably handle everything, and all things to play into each other anyway.

And yes, I believe in social mindfulness, in work to help others and especially to help those who are in particular need of help, in care and in consideration. But I believe that the means to these things, whether it’s a specific group with which people choose to identify or even join, or a concept such as political correctness, etc. should serve the people and their well-being and safety and happiness. People should not serve them out of fear or being torn down by strangers on the internet.

And people shouldn’t alienate each other, they shouldn’t attack those who want to help, they shouldn’t refuse people to grow and to learn, they shouldn’t seperate social issues from each other as if we weren’t all people, as we shouldn’t cooperate to b help those who need help. And to do all this, we must allow humans to be human, to be imperfect but generally kind and well-intentioned. This striving for over specific perfection combined with disregard for general kindness can not possibly help. It only alienates people, frightens them, and paints those who actually want to do good in a bad light.

Please: My writing was perhaps very muddled up, and it may be that I took up some strings that I didn’t finish, or phrased some things badly. So if you wonder about anything I wrote here, or dislike anything of it, please tell me so that I can explain myself. I’ve seen so many people lately write things that in the end got negative responses that were in no proper relation to the original text and obviously based in misunderstanding, and I don’t want that.

[letterboxd]

How I Letterboxd #5: Will Slater.

Talking mullets and other manes with the man behind the internet’s definitive ‘exploding helicopters in movies’ catalog.

“Man cannot live on helicopter explosions alone. Even I need some occasional intellectual nourishment.”

A London-based PR man by day, by night Will Slater has a thing (and a podcast, blog and Twitter account) for movies that feature exploding helicopters. According to his Letterboxd bio, it’s “the world’s only podcast and blog dedicated to celebrating the art of exploding helicopters in films… as well as shaming those directors who dishonor the helicopter explosion genre”. As Will tells Jack Moulton, he also loves film noir, Wakaliwood, masala movies and much more. Just don’t get him started on the one action movie cliché that never fails to disappoint.

Sylvester Stallone takes aim in ‘Rambo III’ (1988).

First things first, have you ever had a ride in a helicopter? Will Slater: What, do you think I’m mad? Of course I’ve never flown in a helicopter! If I’ve learned anything from watching hundreds of films where helicopters spectacularly explode, it’s that they are a singularly dangerous form of transport. You never know when Sylvester Stallone is going to pop up with an explosive-tipped arrow and blow you out of the sky.

I’m going to say the words ‘the definitive action hero/heroine’. Who pops into your head first? No runners-up. Go. Snake Plissken, no question, for a number of good reasons. First, there’s the look: that eye-patch, the beaten-to-hell leather jacket and Kurt Russell’s lustrous mane of hair. Second, there’s the attitude: his contempt for authority, the drawled sarcasm and all-round bad-assery. And I also like that he doesn’t have any special abilities. Action heroes generally tend to be either musclebound slabs of beef—Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stallone—or martial arts specialists—Jean-Claude van Damme, Jackie Chan—Plissken is just a pissed-off, angry dude who’s trying to stay alive. He’s very relatable. Plus, I’d argue he pretty much invented the whole anti-hero formula that rules our screens today.

Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken in John Carpenter’s ‘Escape from New York’ (1981).

When did you start your podcast and which film got you into looking deeper into the topic? It was while watching the cheesily bad Cyborg Cop that I first had an epiphany about the weird and wonderful ways in which helicopters seemed to continually explode in movies. But the film that convinced me to start documenting the phenomenon was Stone Cold. If you’re not familiar with the film, it was an attempt to turn former gridiron star and mullet-king Brian Bosworth into the next big action star. It goes without saying that Stone Cold did not transform ‘The Boz’ into the next Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the film wasn’t a total failure as it features a helicopter explosion that is as brilliant as it is gloriously stupid.

And that was the prompt to start the Exploding Helicopter. I launched the website in 2009, and the podcast followed 2015. Since we started, our aim has been a simple one: to celebrate the strange and inventive ways that helicopters explode in films.

Motorcycle crashes into helicopter in mid-air, ‘Stone Cold’ (1991).

When did you join Letterboxd? What are your favorite features here? I’ve been around since 2013. As for the features, the stats are very cool. When you dig into your viewing history, you can learn some very revealing things about yourself. For example, I generally like to think I have a commendably broad taste in film, and watch only the most important and influential works from every decade, genre and country. But then you look at the data and find you’ve watched Thunderball nine times in the last five years, so maybe you’re not as cool as you thought.

We noticed that your profile faves are low-key and explosion-free, given your theme of choice. Why these four and not Die Hard four times? Man cannot live on helicopter explosions alone. Even I need some occasional intellectual nourishment, between watching whirlybird conflagrations. There’s a little bit of nostalgia tied up in The Ipcress File. I first saw it as a kid, and it made a big impression on me. It’s very stylishly directed, has a great John Barry score and a star-making turn from Michael Caine. I’m a big film noir fan and Sweet Smell Of Success is a beautifully sour tale of cynicism and manipulation. To borrow the words of Burt Lancaster in the film, it’s a “cookie full of arsenic”.

Jean-Pierre Melville is my favorite director and Le Samouraï was the first of his films that I saw. What Melville does so masterfully in this, and his other crime films, is distil the elements of film noir. Basically, he takes the genre’s iconography—the gun, the trenchcoat, the fedora—and familiar plot tropes—the betrayed assassin, the heist gone wrong, the criminal doing one last job—then elevates them above cliché into something almost mythic. And what do I really need to say about Taxi Driver, other than it’s a masterpiece?

Now you say you shame directors who dishonor the art of helicopter explosions? Which directors did you dirty? Well, one of the biggest names in our hall of shame is Tony Scott. For a man who specialized in hyper-stylized, pyrotechnic-filled action movies, he flunked every helicopter explosion he filmed. In our eyes, one of the most egregious offences you can commit is failing to show the helicopter explosion. And in both Spy Game and Domino, old Tony cheats the viewer by having the chopper fly out of sight before it explodes. Now, I can accept such visual chicanery in a low-budget film, where they presumably don’t have the money to stage the scene, but what’s Tony’s excuse? If you look at his filmography, at one time or another he’s wrecked trains, planes and automobiles in spectacular fashion. But for some reason, he repeatedly couldn’t be bothered to give us a satisfying chopper conflagration. At a certain point, it starts to feel like a personal slight. Tony, what did I ever do to you?

In your immortal words, “a film is always improved by a helicopter explosion.” When has this been especially true? When you see lists of worst-ever directors, Uwe Boll is a name that always seems to turn up. And, according to the internet, one of his worst-ever films is the video game adaptation, Far Cry. Now, I’m not going to try [to] convince you that the film is a neglected classic, but it does have a very imaginatively staged exploding helicopter scene. It’s too convoluted to explain here, but take my word that it wouldn’t be out of place in a Fast and Furious movie.

What about the unsung heroes; the stunt artists, the pilots, the pyrotechnicians, the VFX wizards who have worked on numerous iconic action moments, all of whom deserve a shoutout? Personally, I don’t understand why the Academy doesn’t have a stunts category. But if they did, I’d be lobbying hard for Spiro Razatos to get the first award. These days, he works as a stunt coordinator on the Fast and Furious and Marvel films, but I’d like to draw people’s attention to some of his early work. Back in the nineties, he did a lot of work with PM Entertainment films, an independent company that made low-budget action films for the home video market.

They might not have had much money, but they put every cent on the screen with glorious, raucously inventive set pieces that were often more spectacular than big-budget Hollywood offerings. And remember: this was in pre-CGI times, so every death-defying detail was absolutely ‘real’. Go back and watch films like The Sweeper or Rage, and you’ll can see why Super Spiro has now graduated to these more prestigious gigs.

Narrow this list down for us: which is the ultimate most spine-tingly epic “we got company” movie moment? As you may have gathered, I do like an action movie cliché. When you encounter one in a film, it’s like meeting an old friend. And one of my favorites is when someone uses this classic line of dialog to signal that a car chase or a gun battle is about to start. I’ve heard people deliver the line in all sorts of ways–funny, scared, angrily and often just badly. But if you want spine-tingly, then you can’t beat Harrison Ford in Star Wars. He drops the line during the detention-block scene after failing to bluff an imperial officer. As soon as he says it, John Williams’ iconic score kicks in. It gives you the ‘feels’ every time.

“Boring conversation anyway.” Han Solo and Chewbacca in ‘Star Wars’ (1977).

And which action movie cliché can you simply not stand? Stop it: my hackles are raising just thinking about it. For me, the trope that never fails to disappoint is the ‘reluctant’ hero being convinced to take up arms and join the fight. You know the scene. Invariably, the hero has hung up their spurs and is living a bucolic existence ‘off the grid’, when a gruff buddy shows up asking them to risk almost certain death by taking on ‘one last job’. Now, dialog is rarely an action film’s greatest strength, and these beefcake actors generally are not cast for their dramatic chops. Which means we get subjected to the same perfunctory and uninteresting scene over and over again: “I told you, I’m out the game”, “Goddamnit, we need you”, “OK, I’ll do it”. These scenes just never work and are never less than painful to watch.

Which up-and-coming action director are you most excited about? In terms of up-and-coming action talent, I’d pick the director Stefano Sollima. I first noticed his work on a couple of TV series: the fantastic Italian crime dramas, Romanzo Criminale and Gomorrah. The way he composed shots really stood out, and it was clear he had a very cinematic eye. He rather reminds me of Michael Mann. He’s now on Hollywood’s radar and got to direct Sicario: Day of the Soldado the other year. And he’s lined up to make a Tom Clancy adaptation with Michael B. Jordan. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

Have you witnessed the glory that is Wakaliwood—Ugandan DIY action filmmaking—three of which make Letterboxd’s official top ten films by black directors? Which international films do you feel out-match Hollywood? I love the Wakaliwood films I’ve seen. It’s fascinating to watch action films from around the world and see their different styles and flavors. Recently, I’ve been trying to investigate Indian cinema and, in particular, what are known as ‘masala movies’. These mix action, comedy, drama, romance and dance numbers into one big, crazy, entertaining mess. They’re a unique experience. If you want to check one out, I’d suggest Dhoom 2. It’s bananas.

Can you believe there are only two female directors represented in your exploding helicopter list? Do you believe that’s due to systemic or thematic reasons? You have to say it’s systemic. Men have dominated filmmaking for more than a century. Until women have the same opportunities to direct and make films as men, it’s impossible to know what their interest may or may not be in blowing up helicopters. [Will has previously written about the search for “true gender equality in the world of exploding helicopters”.]

To address the elephant in the room, how has Kobe Bryant’s unfortunate death earlier this year changed the way you look at these scenes? Obviously, I appreciate that Kobe Bryant’s death was very shocking and a tragedy for his family and fans. But basketball really is not a thing on these grim shores, so it didn’t register with us unenlightened Brits other than [as] a sad headline about a US sports star.

What was your most anticipated movie event of 2020 before Covid-19 pushed every tentpole back? That’s easy: No Time To Die. I’m a huge Bond fan and as soon as tickets were available, I booked myself in to see it on opening day at an IMAX. But if the Daniel Craig era is synonymous with anything, it’s lengthy delays between films.

Freerunner Sébastien Foucan in the opening scene from ‘Casino Royale’ (2006).

What’s a fond memory you have in theaters related to the Bond franchise? I remember going to see Casino Royale. I was excited, but also nervous to see it. The Brosnan era had ended with the risible Die Another Day: invisible cars, kitesurfing and, worst of all, John Cleese’s awful Q. Since that had come out, we’d had Mission: Impossible, Bourne and the Triple X films, so it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that Bond might be finished. Then the first ten minutes of Casino Royale happened. And while that outstanding parkour-inspired chase was terrifically exciting, it also hit me like cinematic Valium. I suddenly realised I could sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that 007 was going to be just fine.

Are you planning on returning to theaters as soon as you can? When would you feel comfortable? I’m taking a wait-and-see approach. I’d love to see films back on the big screen again, but I want to know more about how cinemas are going to maintain social distancing inside.

Finally, what three Letterboxd accounts should we all be following? Why not give Todd Gaines, Jayson Kennedy or Fred Andersson a follow? If you’re interested in genre films that are a little off the beaten trail, they’ll likely all steer you towards some hidden gems.

[webcricket]

Looking Glass

Chapter 8 - Fly Me to the Moon

Pairing: CastielXAU!Reader

Word Count: 2450

Summary: Supportive Sam, pining angel wings (turns out it’s a thing), and a post-prayer reunion where Cas and the reader acquiesce to the undeniable goodness of the connection budding between them.

A/N: To those dedicated souls in the back still reading author’s notes, chapter 9 promises a payoff of pure fluff.

Miss a chapter? Have a Masterlist Link!

The furious bellow of a tractor trailer horn blares somewhere ahead in a highway scene shrouded in a morning mist of rain burning off the blacktop under the blazing kiss of the rising sun. Undisturbed by the distant noisy intrusion into the otherwise quiet atmosphere of the car, Sam’s fingers remain near motionless where they drape the steering wheel; the gracefully long digits occasionally flex and contract, making minute undulant adjustments to compensate for the winding curves of the road. Hazel eyes peacefully pensive, brow untroubled, the hunter stares ahead into the lifting fog, intent on the drive home.

Sat in the passenger seat, Cas contemplates the green and white mile markers sailing by in a blur along the roadside; according to his angelic reckoning – a feat of navigational honing very much akin to that of the regrettably extinct species of North American homing pigeon – the markers are off by a mere fraction of a thousandth of a mile probably owing to the result of a surveyor’s error, malfunctioning equipment, or the United States obstinate failure to adopt the metric system of measurement like the rest of the freaking developed world. The freaking, of course, is Dean’s invaluable contribution to the angel’s internal flow of meditative monologue.

It’s a fact of technicality the angel keeps to himself; although, within the limited circle of humans he calls friends – no, family – he considers Sam most likely to harbor the humor necessary to appreciate the trivial observation. Dean’s mode would be mockery. Then, of course, there’s the great unknown of you; you, who persistently dominates his thoughts now no matter where they bend. In gleaning fragmented knowledge of your past and present with each healing pass of his grace and the too brief spans of time spent in your company, he’s beginning to understand the battered but brave survivor better – well enough to guess that, if not the detail of the erroneous measurement itself, you might find his absurd notation of it nonetheless amusing. The possibility of arousing some small joy within you excites an ephemeral smile on his lips.

The anticipatory buzz of excitement is fleeting.

“Cas!” Your pained appeal slams into his celestial awareness with no loss of momentum in traversing the gulf of distance between you.

His wings jolt to the ready, an irrepressible instinct, outstretching and straining against the restrictions of their impairment upon perceiving the desperation of your plea. Reaching their broad black span upward in a single swift beat, ensnared inescapably in the confines of their hidden heavenly dimension, the appendages ripple and rustle in dissent to their damage; silken feathers tattered, plumes stripped to the bare barbs and deeply scarred in sections, they reflexively recollect but are rendered incapable of their once swift capacity for flight.

Lightning searing across and seizing his vessel’s shoulders, Cas pitches forward with a ragged groan and braces his palms against the dashboard as he struggles to subdue the rising winged revolt taking place in response to your summoning. He’s hopelessly immobilized from instantaneous arrival at your side, yet every atom of his celestial being tears at his vessel, beckoning to answer your prayer.

“What?!” Startled by the sudden commotion – the worst of which remains unseen by him – Sam swerves sharply, steering to the gravel edge of the road. “What is it?” He taps a tentative hand to Cas’ arm – every muscle of the limb beneath the layers of fabric tenses and trembles with all modicum of control the angel is able to rally. Although he doesn’t fully fathom the extent of it, Sam recognizes the symptoms of stress disturbing his friend. “Angels again?”

“No,” Cas forces the reply through a gritted jaw. “It’s Y/N. She’s hurting . . . praying for help . . . for me. Just keep-” Regaining his composure through sheer command of celestial will, fingers slipping on the vinyl dash as the initial sting of pain passes, he slumps into the scooped embrace of the seat. “Just keep driving.”

Sam’s eyes rove to the gauges of the car. He hasn’t expressed it aloud, but he worries about the effect you’re having on Cas here at the precipice of the latest looming apocalypse. He admits it’s good to see his friend backing down from do-or-die Terminator-esque soldier mode; but you, your coarseness toward him, abrasiveness in general, the angel surely feels a debt of responsibility learning there’s an evil version of himself traipsing around in the other universe who all but destroyed your mind. He thinks it’s a lot even for a stoical seraph to absorb.

Sam can’t imagine the conflict Cas feels, mainly because processing emotions verbally – or at all – isn’t exactly the angel’s strong suit. He knows well that Cas’ greatest fault and his best quality are one and the same – a habitual need to make things right no matter the personal cost. He wonders if the burden of caring for you circles back to making amends with Dean for Donatello – a chance to correct a mistake. “Is she okay? You know, if you want, we can talk about what’s going on.”

The angel knows you’re not okay; that, although he appreciates the open offer, talking will do nothing to correct this; and that, from his present distance-impaired location, he can do frustratingly little to help you. Grace uselessly surging, he may as well be human. Dismissing Sam’s concern, head sagging to his shoulder, blues squinting, he grumbles, “Sam, we’re not moving.”

“Right, got it.” Sam stows his concern, throws the clutch in gear, and swings the car back onto the highway.

A final spasm twitches the angel’s wings as they fold and refold fitfully together. He thinks – slanting his gaze at the console clock now and then, excruciating minutes of separation stretching into hours that should pass inconsequentiality for an ageless being existing since the dawn of time but instead drag – that perhaps, like the specious mile markers, time itself on this endless sun-drenched stretch of highway is faulty.

Inclined against the door jamb of the kitchen, fretting over her gleaming red manicure, Rowena pauses mid-chew of her pinky nail when she perceives a rush of footsteps resounding in the hall. She taps the chipped nail thoughtfully on her tooth – the redeemed witch didn’t sign up to babysit; she’s also wise enough to comprehend how it would bode for her if something terrible happened on her watch whether or not she was still present in the bunker to be blamed when the Winchesters and their angel arrived home to find you in a deeply disturbed state. Caring, she’s beginning to discover, comes with its own unique set of complications.

As Cas rounds the corner in purposeful, gloriously angelic, and full trench coat billowing stride toward the kitchen, Rowena bodily flings herself at him with an exaggerated squawk. “There’s our high and mighty hero! Took your time getting here, didn’t you? The poor girl’s been in there sufferin’ for hours. Hours! And where were you? Off gallivanting with a Winchester, of course!”

Cas ignores both the ridicule and the whip-tongued woman wielding it. He brushes past her explicatory flailing form as she animatedly complains about the circumstances of being left alone with you completely ignorant of your infirmity and alternately drones on about an episode with a screeching tea pot.

The angel finds you hunkered in a corner – wedged between the wall and a shelf – hugging your knees, face buried in your bent arms. Approaching cautiously, he crouches before you and, remembering your adverse reflex to his unexpected touch, resists the desire to lay a palm comfortingly to the roundness of your shoulders rising with a shallow inhalation. “Y/N?”

Hair sweeping in clumps across your red-rimmed eyes, you peer out at him through puffy lids from within the cocoon of crossed limbs. The reality is, your head stopped aching hours ago. You staged a kitchen coup because precisely when your headache peaked and subsided, your heart assumed hurting where your head left off under the barraged return of your memories. Remembering feels a whole lot like losing everything and everyone you ever loved all over again to an apocalypse. Sniffling against a long since dried well of tears, defaulting to your signature defensive defiance in affront to this new and improved onslaught of internal agony, you muster a bit of spirited pluck for the especially concerned looking seraph’s sake to prove to him you’re fine. “You’re late.”

Several lines fissuring his anxiously wrought features iron themselves out in a wash of relief. Spunk is good; it’s expected – it’s limitless spring in your soul is something he admires. “I’m sorry it took so long, but I can’t-” His blues – swiftly subduing into seas of sadness and shame – glaze and veer in avoidance to the assortment of dusty disused cooking utensils on the bottom shelf beside you. Husky tone sinking to a raw whisper, he addresses what seems to be a sensitive subject. “Well, you’d call it flying. I can’t do that, not anymore.” Regard bending back to you to gauge your reaction to his admission of angelic debilitation, he adds gravely, “In all likelihood, not ever again.”

“That’s funny.” You realize the unintended offence as soon as the words lob off your tongue.  You meant to say: ‘Hey, that’s an interesting coincidence, cause the other you can’t fly either.’

Cadence clipped, his expression hardens. “I fail to see the humor in the incapacitation of my wings-”

“No, I didn’t mean-” You grab at his sleeve, apologetic. “It’s not funny, ha ha. I meant that it’s strange. Strange, because the other Castiel – he can’t fly either. The angels, when we wouldn’t talk, they summoned him and he came in a truck – an armored truck – by himself. An angel travelling by land, it was . . . weird.” Grimacing, it occurs to you that you’ve managed to deride Cas’ feathery debility and imply he’s strange and weird in the same breath. Apparently, your ability to translate thoughts into lucid unoffending speech is short-circuiting. You try again, because the idea of band-aiding the situation with more syllables sounds super sound inside your noggin. “Not that you’re weird, you-”

“You remember all of that?” he interrupts what was likely to be another unintentional seraphim slight. There’s a suggestion of forgiveness in the subtlest of smiles skirting his mouth.

“I’m remembering a lot of things,” you reply, watching the smile shift upward to crease the corners of his eyes at the news. Self-conscious when your gaze catches his, your focus falls from the glimmer of gladness flooding his face to your fingers continuing to clutch at the fabric of his coat sleeve. You should let go. You don’t want to let go. It’s strange and weird to still be holding on, but he hasn’t made any motion of protest. Here, and there, Cas – the first person you saw in this world, or Castiel – the last face you saw in yours, the angel is a constant. It’s why you prayed to him, this him in a tea pot induced panic when your miserable memories came crashing back to your consciousness all at once; he’s your touchstone in the good.

If he notices the epic struggle of self-discovery taking place in the fluctuating pressure of your fingertips attached to his coat sleeve, he doesn’t mention it. “You’re remembering – that’s good.”

“Is it? Most all of it – it’s bad. Really bad.” You know he’s right – in theory it’s good. In practice it cinches your fist tighter and gives you greater reason to hold on to him.

“It’s good because it means you’re recovering,” he states – at least one of you has an accurate read on deciphering your thoughts. “How’s your head?”

Biting your lower lip, you tease, “Still attached.”

Chin tilting, gaze narrowing, he chides, “Y/N.”

You shrug. “Better . . . I guess. The noise sensitivity resolved the hundredth or so time witchy Nanny McPhee ingratiatingly asked me if she could do anything else – ‘Anythin’ at all, dear!’ – that didn’t involve boiling water in brass pots.”

A skeptical humph vibrates in his throat. He casts you a doubtful stare to punctuate his pessimism over your lack of certainty.

“Okay, better, definitely better,” you concede and posit his next thought before he can mutter it. “And before you ask if I’m tired, the only tired I am is of being stuck in this damn bunker.”

“Can you stand?” Reaching his free hand across the sleeve you have securely embedded in your grasp, he glides the rough pads of his fingers gently along the ticklish inner surface of your thumb and upturned wrist; when you don’t flinch away from him, he allows his light caress to linger there longer, heat sparking on your skin.

“I-I think so,” you stutter, attention torn between the simple question and the balminess of his flesh where it grazes yours.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” His tender touch trails to your elbow; encircling your arm, he helps you rise to your feet. He pivots and sidesteps to ensure you don’t feel cornered without escape upon standing.

You wobble on your disused legs, using the unsteadiness as an excuse to lean into him for support. “A walk? You mean, outside?”

He peers down at you, aspect and affect afflicted with an utter sense of soberness as square as his jawline at this proximity. “No, a walk on the moon,” he retorts.

Puffing an airy burst of laughter, a grin broadens your cheeks. “Did you just crack a joke?”

He nods, the shine of a smile again brightening his serious countenance. “Dean mentioned recently that I should try to lighten up. Was that a suitable occasion to do so?”

“Yes. And yes to the walk!” Skipping several steps backward, socked heels slipping on the tile floor, your palm reluctantly parts from the anchoring stability of his chest as you dash for the door to change out of pajamas and into the clothing you previously deemed stupid – considering you had nowhere to wear it – which was generously purloined for you by Sam and Dean from their mother’s closet. “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back!” You pause at the threshold and flash him an enthusiastic parting grin before scampering down the hall.

Exhaling a contented sigh, Cas’ lashes shutter to envision the delight of your grin etched into his memory. He thinks, based on the warmth radiating from within his vessel’s chest, that your joy, too, is everlastingly emblazoned on his heart. The experience of bringing you that bit of happiness, it’s so much more meaningful than the bounds of angelic imagination permitted him to conceive; and, the angel who wants nothing for himself wants more of this exhilarating sensation.

Next: Ch. 9 - The Fable of the Fawns

[animals-the-metagame]

The Top: Intimidation Tanks

My last two guides focused on mid-tier predators without very good prospects when it comes to fighting other classes in their weight tier, so today we'll be switching things up a bit with arguably the strongest type of tank in the game: the intimidation tank. These classes rely on a combination of a powerful PvP build and morale-reducing specials to deter potential attackers, allowing them to avoid fights by way of simply being too scary to fight.

Amphibious Bruiser

The hippo class is top twenty for PvP combat on the current patch, capable of holding its own against the other A-tier threats that it shares its semiaquatic biomes with. It has favourable matchups into crocodiles and hyenas, and largely goes even with lions; all three opponents will generally avoid conflict with a hippo unless the hippo's hit points are already down from an earlier injury or status effect. Although it's listed here as an intimidation tank, the hippo is technically more of an intimidation bruiser; its build is quite aggressive compared to true tanks, and the hippo relies more on its base defences and the threat of its overwhelming offence to reduce damage dealt to it.

The interesting feature of the hippo class is that it has shallow access to a skill tree that's otherwise reserved for purely aquatic classes like the whale or the shark: the Mariner tree, a veritable treasure trove of powerful effects that are triggered by or useful in water. This allows hippos to take Sea Legs, a special that (despite its name) grants hippos additional resistances as long as they stand in any kind of water, and Kraken's Jaws, a powerful passive that converts bite damage into crushing rather than piercing damage, and allows bites to Cripple enemies. In this low-recovery meta, the threat of a Cripple alone is enough to make most aggressors think twice or even three times.

The other keystone of the hippo build is heavy investment in the Gambit tree. Trample grants hippos a damage bonus against opponents smaller than them, scaling with the hippo's naturally imposing size. Furious Charge is a strong initiation attack; it deals heavy damage to whatever it hits, and even if it doesn't hit, it will Terrify anything that entered the hippo's reach during its charge. Growl is an AoE special that deals no damage, but reduces the attack stat of any creature in auditory range of the hippo, and finally Landblubber is a passive that reduces all damage dealt to the hippo-- including the damage dealt by poisons and bleed effects-- by a flat amount. This last take does require a minimum resistance level slightly above the hippo's base, but-- as we'll see in a moment-- played right, hippos have no problem with securing the necessary skill points.

The key with the hippo class is picking a territory, and sticking to it. Usually players will select a region of a swamp or a river-- something with a lot of access to drinkable water, both so that they can maintain the defensive bonuses from Sea Legs (and any other Mariner specials that they might have picked up), and so that they can sustain themselves indefinitely. If something approaches your territory, attack it; so long as you don't spread yourself too thin by picking a territory larger than you can expediently move through, your area denial will be absolute. This is a tremendous advantage in PvP; not many classes can claim as wide, or vital, an area as a hippo. Starving out potential foes is one of the most reliable strategies in the book.

However, in spite of this playstyle, hippos top out at the middle of the A-tier. While this isn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, it might seem unusual for such an effective mixture of offence, defence and utility, and the reason for this is that hippos are locked to their freshwater domains. It's quite difficult for even a single enterprising hippo to reach a new river, let alone enough hippos to establish a new starting point for other hippo players to join the game servers from, and this means that if a threat to freshwater-- say, for example, the human class-- shows up to displace a hippo colony, there is very little that the hippos can do to defend themselves. As I've said earlier, the classes that do the best job of avoiding (or even profiting off!) the oppressively omnipresent area denial of the human class are the ones worthy of the title of S-tier, and while hippos are by no means the worst off against humans… they are by no means the best either.

 Rootin' Tootin'

Next up is the elephant class, another top twenty contender; and for very good reason. The unique passive of this class, Get Gigantic, is a powerful defensive steroid that grants the elephant bonus health based on its size-- on top of the usual health gain associated with size increases. This makes elephants enormous tanks in its own right, and the two elephant builds that are viable in the current day just get bulkier from there.

The African Elephant is the larger, and therefore bulkier of the two. It prioritises raw defences over environmental resistances, and is selected in biomes where the greatest threats are other players. They take Indomitable, a Shield tree passive that sharply reduces the effectiveness of disabling effects on them, and Great Presence, a Shield tree passive that directly reduces the speed and attack stats of creatures that can see them. The Asian elephant build, on the other hand, takes the Forest Aegis passive (found in the Walk tree rather than the Shield tree), which allows the elephant to effectively ignore the armour-ignoring property of poisons and diseases as long as the elephant remains in a forest or jungle biome. This isn't quite immunity to poison and disease (if it deals enough damage it can still get through armour quite handily), but it does severely neuter the vast majority of jungle ailments that threaten most inhabitants of jungle biomes.

The offenses for both builds are identical: they take Trample (damage bonus against smaller creatures, scaling with the elephant's size) and Stampede (an upgrade to Trample that creates an AoE Terrify effect whenever Trample is triggered). The Attack of choice for elephants is Stomp, which progresses into Charge as the elephant progresses through the ranks. Finally, although this isn't really an offense, elephant builds take Prehensile, an extremely rare Gambit tree special that many high-rank players have compared to the human class's signature passive, Sapiens. This is a multipurpose tool that opens the door to all sort of combos and exploits that other classes can only dream of, and serves as the cornerstone of all high-level elephant play, including a level of co-ordination-- quite the rarity among herbivorous classes. A skilled elephant player can use Prehensile to turn around surprise initiations from even crocodiles and high-tier cat builds, usually touted as the masters of surprise.

Once the offenses are finished, elephant players like to invest any remaining points (there usually are quite a few, owing to the elephant's naturally high intelligence stat) directly into their size. Besides the stacking hit point total increase that I mentioned earlier, this has a couple of fringe benefits that few other classes have the liberty to experiment with in the current meta; a larger size translates to a higher base speed, thanks to how hitboxes and movement speed interact in this game, and allows the elephant to see over obstacles that block the vision of other classes.

Elephant gameplay is fairly unfocused; because the elephant builds are so formidable, elephant players can go where they please once their character reaches their endgame stat spread, as long as they remain within temperate to hot biomes. They do usually stay within groups, so that they can stack their crowd control effects and debuffs on any player foolish enough to make an attempt on one of their lives, but these groups are themselves unfettered. With this much going for them, elephants are top of the line in A-tier; extremely good, but still lacking that special something to make them legitimate competitors with humans.

 Honourable Mention - The Mammoth

The Mammoth "class" (actually an old build for the elephant class) is a true behemoth-- a high skill-point build that revolves around stacking size modifiers on top of Get Gigantic. Coupled with the Shield tree's Winter Behemoth, it's not uncommon to see mammoths with over five thousand hit points. The gambit Trample grants it a massive damage bonus-- again based on its size-- to any opponent smaller than it (which might as well read "any opponent"). Finally, since it is still the elephant class, it takes Prehensile, adding a powerful utility tool to its already formidable arsenal of attacks and defences.

On the other hand, the Mammoth build is also stupidly unviable in the current meta. Relying on Winter Behemoth to protect you won't get you very far when most biomes these days are far too warm to activate the ability's defensive bonuses, and without those bonuses the ability description might as well read "get attacked by every viable hunter class in a 60,000 unit radius". Even in biomes cold enough for Mammoths to retain their full PvP capabilities, the latest patch introduced humans, the hardest counter to elephants that the game has seen yet. Sapiens beats Prehensile, Adept beats deep defensive builds, and humans are extremely good at denying ground from larger classes, reducing the skill points that Mammoths can get access to. In a meta where humans exist and the game state is just warmer overall, mammoths can't afford their high-end passives and gambits, and so perish. The verdict: F-tier.

 The Next Step

This brings us to the last-- but by no means the least-- of the intimidation tanks. In fact, this class is the sole S-tier tank in the entire game, although the specific build that makes it S-tier is more of a support build; low econ, but very high effectiveness, and focused almost entirely around buffing other classes. I'm talking about the Cow.

Yes, from the gate, it does look like a dead ringer for another stupid cheese build. How can a build that totally ignores its class's unique passive and best PvP synergies, in favour of stacking skill points into hit points-- not even size-- and freaking Active Mammaries, of all the garbage skills in the game, ever register as one of the best builds in this entire game?

The answer, as with so many other questions about tier lists that you may have, is the human class. See, when it comes to gaining skill points from food, data miners have identified the hit point total of the killed creature as the single most important factor in deciding how many skill points a player will get from a given food item. That is to say, the higher the hit points, the higher the value. This has been known, at least to dedicated players, ever since the Devonian patch was introduced; but only recently has the playerbase been given the opportunity to exploit this.

That opportunity is Sapiens, and the unprecedented intelligence-- and therefore level of interplayer co-operation-- that it presents. Once human players realised that they could actually construct new terrain by combining the effects of Sapiens with their Primate tree abilities, they realised that they could build entire artificial biomes and confer this powerful new synergy onto players of other classes; but supremacy is not a gift that is to be given lightly. If the human players were to let other players piggyback on their sure road up the evolutionary ladder, those players were going to have to offer them something.

And one of the first offerings that players' minds leapt to was, of course, skill points. If you could curate a build that generated as many skill points for as little cost as possible, then the human players would naturally select the players of that build to colonise the biomes they found alongside them, in order to "farm" them for skill point totals above and beyond any skill point total that had ever been reached in the game before. And the Cow build-- compounding the naturally high base health of the bovine class with a full tilt investment into purchased hit points, plus an additional investment into additional skill point production via Active Mammaries-- was one of the builds built to meet these new specifications.

On the backs of the Cow build (and similar hitpoint-focused builds just like it, like the Chicken and Pig builds), the human class finally managed to overcome the one factor keeping them from reaching effective godhood: the lifetime skill point limit. And for their help, the Cow build was rewarded with true S-tier status; the power to exist in any human-owned territory that they could care to live in, their numbers secure and sure to last for as long as the human meta persists. The "intimidation" in "intimidation tank" doesn't have to refer to a player's own PvP potential; no sane player would dare challenge a pack of human players just for a meaty wall of hit points… even if it might yield a ridiculous number of skill points.

[45news]

The stricken Muslim community of Christchurch was preparing to bury its dead after the far right terrorist attack on two mosques which stunned New Zealand. Graves for the victims of the worst mass shooting in the country’s history were being dug on Saturday, in anticipation of their bodies being released by the authorities. Workmen using diggers carefully prepared the ground in a quiet corner of Memorial Park Cemetery, with colleagues erecting a cloth over a fence to preserve the dignity of their work on part of the site set aside for Muslim burials, the graves facing Mecca. A few hours earlier Brenton Tarrant, the Australian national accused of the rampage, appeared in court in Christchurch, where he made a white supremacist gesture with his hand while flanked by two police officers. The 28-year-old was charged with one initial count of murder but more are expected to follow and he was remanded in custody until April 5. Christchurch residents outside the Al Noor mosque, where 41 worshippers were shot dead Credit: Jorge Silva/Reuters Police believe Tarrant was responsible for both the attack on the Al Noor mosque and the shooting at the Linwood Islamic Centre a short drive away. Fifty people were killed. A further 36, mostly men, are being treated for injuries at the city’s main hospital, the youngest a boy of two. Two people remain in a critical condition, including a four-year-old girl who was taken to Auckland’s Starship Hospital. Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, said yesterday the country’s gun laws would be tightened, with regulations around semi-automatic weapons, such as the ones allegedly used by Tarrant, "one of the issues" the government would consider. Minister David Parker confirmed that Semi Automatic weapons will be banned in New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/zVOAuyalZk— Kenny Williams (@Ohheykenny) March 16, 2019 Praising the bravery of two rural police officers who detained Tarrant at gunpoint as he allegedly tried to flee from the scene of the shootings, Ardern said he would have gone on target more victims. "It was absolutely was his intention to continue with his attack,” she said. Among Tarrant’s alleged victims were children, the elderly, recently arrived refugees and long settled migrants who had built a new life in a country one of them had described as "a slice of paradise". Daoud Nabi, a 71-year-old retired engineer who migrated from Afghanistan to New Zealand following the Soviet invasion, was the first to die on what Ardern would later call the country’s “darkest day.” In the grisly video allegedly filmed by Tarrant and streamed live online during the attack, the pensioner can be heard saying “hello brother” as he approached the gunman at the entrance to the Al Noor mosque. How Tarrant's hate spread across social media There were reports that Mr Nabi stepped in front of someone else to confront Tarrant, taking the bullets for himself. His son Omar, 43, said that was completely in character for his father, who had believed New Zealand to be a "slice of paradise." “Just helping people is his main thing. It makes me feel like he wanted other people to live,” he said. “To die in the masjid, in the mosque, if something like this happens the golden gates open for you.” At just three-years-old Mucad Ibrahim is thought to have been the youngest victim of the massacre. He had gone to the Al Noor mosque with his father and older brother Abdi, but was lost in the melee when the firing started. Abdi described his little brother as "energetic, playful and liked to smile and laugh a lot", confessing he felt nothing but “hatred” for his killer. Barely a year older than Mucad was Abdullahi Dirie, who was photographed cradled in a man’s arms outside the mosque after being fatally shot. His father and four siblings survived the attack. Abdullahi’s family had made their home in New Zealand after fleeing Somalia in the mid-1990s as refugees. His uncle Abdulrahman Hashi, 60, a preacher at Dar Al Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis, said: “You cannot imagine how I feel. He was the youngest in the family. This is a problem of extremism. Some people think the Muslims in their country are part of that, but these are innocent people.” The family of Khaled Mustafa thought they had found safety in New Zealand after fleeing the bloody chaos of Syria only a few months ago. But he too became a victim of hatred when he was shot dead while praying with his two sons, Hamza, who is now missing feared dead and Zaid, 13, who is recovering from a six-hour operation on his wounds. Ali Akil, a spokesman for Syrian Solidarity New Zealand, said Mr Mustafa's wife and daughter, who were not at the mosque on Friday, were in "total shock, devastation and horror". He added: “They survived atrocities and arrived here in a safe haven only to be killed in the most atrocious way.." Among those also feared killed was a sports loving teenager described by his family as "a regular, typical, Kiwi kid." Sayyad Milne, who had dreams of playing football professionally, had gone to the Al Noor mosque with his mother Noraini. She managed to flee but Sayyad was cut down as the terrorist made his way through the building. Brydie Henry, Sayyad's half sister, said she was "devastated" by the attack. "They were good people, just living good lives. It's just awful," she added. Hosne Ara Parvin, 42, who moved to New Zealand from Bangladesh, is reported to have taken the full force of the bullets after leaping in front of the gunman to shield her husband Farid Uddin, who was in a wheelchair. Naeem Rashid, a Pakistani-born teacher, also tried to rush the gunman, but died later of his wounds. His son, 22-year-old Talha Naeem, a civil engineering graduate, was among those killed. Mr Rashid’s wife and Naeem’s mother Ambreen said: “I still can't understand or believe why and how this happened. But, I know that my husband is a hero. He always helped people and even in his last moments, he did what he could to help others." Khaja Mohiuddin, a chef, described how a fellow worshipper saved people by tackling the gunman while he and about 15 others hid at the Linwood mosque. He said: “The guy was there with us and said ‘we have to do something”, so he ran and just pulled the gun down.” One of Mr Mohiuddin's friends was killed, shot through the head. Two others are seriously injured, one with a collarbone “ripped off”, the other shot in the shoulder. New Zealand mosque massacre - In pictures While Prime Minister Ardern has vowed to change New Zealand’s gun laws, for Mr Mohiuddin it is too late. “That doesn’t return our loved ones. I know I have lost someone about whom I care, and my two other friends, I do not know for how many months they will be on a bed," he said. "It will not return their time nor my mate’s life back.," he said. Others feared killed were Mohammad Atta Alayan, Palestinian refugee who helped raise funds to build the mosque and Haroon Mahmood, a PhD student from Pakistan, who had two young children. Khaled Mustafa, Syrian refugee who fled Isil, was shot while praying. New Zealand futsal goalkeeper Atta Elayyan, 33, was also killed, as was retired engineer Ali Elmadani, who migrated from the United Arab Emirates in 1998. His daughter Maha Elmadani said: "My Dad always told us to be strong and patient so that's what we are all trying to do. For his sake. He considered New Zealand home and never thought something like this would happen here." The city of Christchurch once again bears the hallmarks of compassion that residents leaned on to help them through the dark months after the earthquake of February 2011 that claimed 185 lives. Opposite the hospital a row of traffic cones was adorned with flowers, while a nearby safety barrier was littered with bouquets. Terror in New Zealand | Read more A poster adorned with angels, butterflies and flowers read: “In loveing (sic) memory of all the beautiful Muslims who had their whole beautiful lives ripped away. We love you all and we know you are in a better place now. We will always walk with you side by side.” Lianne Dalziel, the Mayor of Christchurch said the killings were an “act of cowardice” by a “terrorist” who came to the city with “hate in his heart”. She added: “I want us not to be divided by what has happened, because hate divides. I want us to be united, and that’s what love and compassion and kindness are all about. “I believe that we can, because of our previous experience, recover from this. We can recover in a way that we will be stronger than we were before.” New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said this morning that the death toll has risen to 50 after investigators found another body at one of the mosques.  "Security around mosques will continue until Police believe there is no threat," he said. Two other people, a man and a woman, arrested soon after the shootings were not linked to the gunman. The woman had been released without charge, the man has been charged with firearm offences.    A list of those killed in the shootings had now been compiled and families had been advised. Mr Bush said the bodies have not yet been returned to the families as police need to determine the cause of death for each one.   "We have been working pathologist and coroners, and the chief coroner, on that and we have to be clear on cause of death and the identity before we can do that. "We are so aware of the cultural and religious needs so we are doing that as quickly and sensitively as possible," Mr Bush added. The Police chief also said that it was "obvious" that a modified weapon had been used.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2O8tf2i

[7newx1]

The stricken Muslim community of Christchurch was preparing to bury its dead after the far right terrorist attack on two mosques which stunned New Zealand. Graves for the victims of the worst mass shooting in the country’s history were being dug on Saturday, in anticipation of their bodies being released by the authorities. Workmen using diggers carefully prepared the ground in a quiet corner of Memorial Park Cemetery, with colleagues erecting a cloth over a fence to preserve the dignity of their work on part of the site set aside for Muslim burials, the graves facing Mecca. A few hours earlier Brenton Tarrant, the Australian national accused of the rampage, appeared in court in Christchurch, where he made a white supremacist gesture with his hand while flanked by two police officers. The 28-year-old was charged with one initial count of murder but more are expected to follow and he was remanded in custody until April 5. Christchurch residents outside the Al Noor mosque, where 41 worshippers were shot dead Credit: Jorge Silva/Reuters Police believe Tarrant was responsible for both the attack on the Al Noor mosque and the shooting at the Linwood Islamic Centre a short drive away. Fifty people were killed. A further 36, mostly men, are being treated for injuries at the city’s main hospital, the youngest a boy of two. Two people remain in a critical condition, including a four-year-old girl who was taken to Auckland’s Starship Hospital. Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, said yesterday the country’s gun laws would be tightened, with regulations around semi-automatic weapons, such as the ones allegedly used by Tarrant, "one of the issues" the government would consider. Minister David Parker confirmed that Semi Automatic weapons will be banned in New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/zVOAuyalZk— Kenny Williams (@Ohheykenny) March 16, 2019 Praising the bravery of two rural police officers who detained Tarrant at gunpoint as he allegedly tried to flee from the scene of the shootings, Ardern said he would have gone on target more victims. "It was absolutely was his intention to continue with his attack,” she said. Among Tarrant’s alleged victims were children, the elderly, recently arrived refugees and long settled migrants who had built a new life in a country one of them had described as "a slice of paradise". Daoud Nabi, a 71-year-old retired engineer who migrated from Afghanistan to New Zealand following the Soviet invasion, was the first to die on what Ardern would later call the country’s “darkest day.” In the grisly video allegedly filmed by Tarrant and streamed live online during the attack, the pensioner can be heard saying “hello brother” as he approached the gunman at the entrance to the Al Noor mosque. How Tarrant's hate spread across social media There were reports that Mr Nabi stepped in front of someone else to confront Tarrant, taking the bullets for himself. His son Omar, 43, said that was completely in character for his father, who had believed New Zealand to be a "slice of paradise." “Just helping people is his main thing. It makes me feel like he wanted other people to live,” he said. “To die in the masjid, in the mosque, if something like this happens the golden gates open for you.” At just three-years-old Mucad Ibrahim is thought to have been the youngest victim of the massacre. He had gone to the Al Noor mosque with his father and older brother Abdi, but was lost in the melee when the firing started. Abdi described his little brother as "energetic, playful and liked to smile and laugh a lot", confessing he felt nothing but “hatred” for his killer. Barely a year older than Mucad was Abdullahi Dirie, who was photographed cradled in a man’s arms outside the mosque after being fatally shot. His father and four siblings survived the attack. Abdullahi’s family had made their home in New Zealand after fleeing Somalia in the mid-1990s as refugees. His uncle Abdulrahman Hashi, 60, a preacher at Dar Al Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis, said: “You cannot imagine how I feel. He was the youngest in the family. This is a problem of extremism. Some people think the Muslims in their country are part of that, but these are innocent people.” The family of Khaled Mustafa thought they had found safety in New Zealand after fleeing the bloody chaos of Syria only a few months ago. But he too became a victim of hatred when he was shot dead while praying with his two sons, Hamza, who is now missing feared dead and Zaid, 13, who is recovering from a six-hour operation on his wounds. Ali Akil, a spokesman for Syrian Solidarity New Zealand, said Mr Mustafa's wife and daughter, who were not at the mosque on Friday, were in "total shock, devastation and horror". He added: “They survived atrocities and arrived here in a safe haven only to be killed in the most atrocious way.." Among those also feared killed was a sports loving teenager described by his family as "a regular, typical, Kiwi kid." Sayyad Milne, who had dreams of playing football professionally, had gone to the Al Noor mosque with his mother Noraini. She managed to flee but Sayyad was cut down as the terrorist made his way through the building. Brydie Henry, Sayyad's half sister, said she was "devastated" by the attack. "They were good people, just living good lives. It's just awful," she added. Hosne Ara Parvin, 42, who moved to New Zealand from Bangladesh, is reported to have taken the full force of the bullets after leaping in front of the gunman to shield her husband Farid Uddin, who was in a wheelchair. Naeem Rashid, a Pakistani-born teacher, also tried to rush the gunman, but died later of his wounds. His son, 22-year-old Talha Naeem, a civil engineering graduate, was among those killed. Mr Rashid’s wife and Naeem’s mother Ambreen said: “I still can't understand or believe why and how this happened. But, I know that my husband is a hero. He always helped people and even in his last moments, he did what he could to help others." Khaja Mohiuddin, a chef, described how a fellow worshipper saved people by tackling the gunman while he and about 15 others hid at the Linwood mosque. He said: “The guy was there with us and said ‘we have to do something”, so he ran and just pulled the gun down.” One of Mr Mohiuddin's friends was killed, shot through the head. Two others are seriously injured, one with a collarbone “ripped off”, the other shot in the shoulder. New Zealand mosque massacre - In pictures While Prime Minister Ardern has vowed to change New Zealand’s gun laws, for Mr Mohiuddin it is too late. “That doesn’t return our loved ones. I know I have lost someone about whom I care, and my two other friends, I do not know for how many months they will be on a bed," he said. "It will not return their time nor my mate’s life back.," he said. Others feared killed were Mohammad Atta Alayan, Palestinian refugee who helped raise funds to build the mosque and Haroon Mahmood, a PhD student from Pakistan, who had two young children. Khaled Mustafa, Syrian refugee who fled Isil, was shot while praying. New Zealand futsal goalkeeper Atta Elayyan, 33, was also killed, as was retired engineer Ali Elmadani, who migrated from the United Arab Emirates in 1998. His daughter Maha Elmadani said: "My Dad always told us to be strong and patient so that's what we are all trying to do. For his sake. He considered New Zealand home and never thought something like this would happen here." The city of Christchurch once again bears the hallmarks of compassion that residents leaned on to help them through the dark months after the earthquake of February 2011 that claimed 185 lives. Opposite the hospital a row of traffic cones was adorned with flowers, while a nearby safety barrier was littered with bouquets. Terror in New Zealand | Read more A poster adorned with angels, butterflies and flowers read: “In loveing (sic) memory of all the beautiful Muslims who had their whole beautiful lives ripped away. We love you all and we know you are in a better place now. We will always walk with you side by side.” Lianne Dalziel, the Mayor of Christchurch said the killings were an “act of cowardice” by a “terrorist” who came to the city with “hate in his heart”. She added: “I want us not to be divided by what has happened, because hate divides. I want us to be united, and that’s what love and compassion and kindness are all about. “I believe that we can, because of our previous experience, recover from this. We can recover in a way that we will be stronger than we were before.” New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said this morning that the death toll has risen to 50 after investigators found another body at one of the mosques.  "Security around mosques will continue until Police believe there is no threat," he said. Two other people, a man and a woman, arrested soon after the shootings were not linked to the gunman. The woman had been released without charge, the man has been charged with firearm offences.    A list of those killed in the shootings had now been compiled and families had been advised. Mr Bush said the bodies have not yet been returned to the families as police need to determine the cause of death for each one.   "We have been working pathologist and coroners, and the chief coroner, on that and we have to be clear on cause of death and the identity before we can do that. "We are so aware of the cultural and religious needs so we are doing that as quickly and sensitively as possible," Mr Bush added. The Police chief also said that it was "obvious" that a modified weapon had been used.

[teeky185]

The stricken Muslim community of Christchurch was preparing to bury its dead after the far right terrorist attack on two mosques which stunned New Zealand. Graves for the victims of the worst mass shooting in the country’s history were being dug on Saturday, in anticipation of their bodies being released by the authorities. Workmen using diggers carefully prepared the ground in a quiet corner of Memorial Park Cemetery, with colleagues erecting a cloth over a fence to preserve the dignity of their work on part of the site set aside for Muslim burials, the graves facing Mecca. A few hours earlier Brenton Tarrant, the Australian national accused of the rampage, appeared in court in Christchurch, where he made a white supremacist gesture with his hand while flanked by two police officers. The 28-year-old was charged with one initial count of murder but more are expected to follow and he was remanded in custody until April 5. Christchurch residents outside the Al Noor mosque, where 41 worshippers were shot dead Credit: Jorge Silva/Reuters Police believe Tarrant was responsible for both the attack on the Al Noor mosque and the shooting at the Linwood Islamic Centre a short drive away. Fifty people were killed. A further 36, mostly men, are being treated for injuries at the city’s main hospital, the youngest a boy of two. Two people remain in a critical condition, including a four-year-old girl who was taken to Auckland’s Starship Hospital. Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, said yesterday the country’s gun laws would be tightened, with regulations around semi-automatic weapons, such as the ones allegedly used by Tarrant, "one of the issues" the government would consider. Minister David Parker confirmed that Semi Automatic weapons will be banned in New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/zVOAuyalZk— Kenny Williams (@Ohheykenny) March 16, 2019 Praising the bravery of two rural police officers who detained Tarrant at gunpoint as he allegedly tried to flee from the scene of the shootings, Ardern said he would have gone on target more victims. "It was absolutely was his intention to continue with his attack,” she said. Among Tarrant’s alleged victims were children, the elderly, recently arrived refugees and long settled migrants who had built a new life in a country one of them had described as "a slice of paradise". Daoud Nabi, a 71-year-old retired engineer who migrated from Afghanistan to New Zealand following the Soviet invasion, was the first to die on what Ardern would later call the country’s “darkest day.” In the grisly video allegedly filmed by Tarrant and streamed live online during the attack, the pensioner can be heard saying “hello brother” as he approached the gunman at the entrance to the Al Noor mosque. How Tarrant's hate spread across social media There were reports that Mr Nabi stepped in front of someone else to confront Tarrant, taking the bullets for himself. His son Omar, 43, said that was completely in character for his father, who had believed New Zealand to be a "slice of paradise." “Just helping people is his main thing. It makes me feel like he wanted other people to live,” he said. “To die in the masjid, in the mosque, if something like this happens the golden gates open for you.” At just three-years-old Mucad Ibrahim is thought to have been the youngest victim of the massacre. He had gone to the Al Noor mosque with his father and older brother Abdi, but was lost in the melee when the firing started. Abdi described his little brother as "energetic, playful and liked to smile and laugh a lot", confessing he felt nothing but “hatred” for his killer. Barely a year older than Mucad was Abdullahi Dirie, who was photographed cradled in a man’s arms outside the mosque after being fatally shot. His father and four siblings survived the attack. Abdullahi’s family had made their home in New Zealand after fleeing Somalia in the mid-1990s as refugees. His uncle Abdulrahman Hashi, 60, a preacher at Dar Al Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis, said: “You cannot imagine how I feel. He was the youngest in the family. This is a problem of extremism. Some people think the Muslims in their country are part of that, but these are innocent people.” The family of Khaled Mustafa thought they had found safety in New Zealand after fleeing the bloody chaos of Syria only a few months ago. But he too became a victim of hatred when he was shot dead while praying with his two sons, Hamza, who is now missing feared dead and Zaid, 13, who is recovering from a six-hour operation on his wounds. Ali Akil, a spokesman for Syrian Solidarity New Zealand, said Mr Mustafa's wife and daughter, who were not at the mosque on Friday, were in "total shock, devastation and horror". He added: “They survived atrocities and arrived here in a safe haven only to be killed in the most atrocious way.." Among those also feared killed was a sports loving teenager described by his family as "a regular, typical, Kiwi kid." Sayyad Milne, who had dreams of playing football professionally, had gone to the Al Noor mosque with his mother Noraini. She managed to flee but Sayyad was cut down as the terrorist made his way through the building. Brydie Henry, Sayyad's half sister, said she was "devastated" by the attack. "They were good people, just living good lives. It's just awful," she added. Hosne Ara Parvin, 42, who moved to New Zealand from Bangladesh, is reported to have taken the full force of the bullets after leaping in front of the gunman to shield her husband Farid Uddin, who was in a wheelchair. Naeem Rashid, a Pakistani-born teacher, also tried to rush the gunman, but died later of his wounds. His son, 22-year-old Talha Naeem, a civil engineering graduate, was among those killed. Mr Rashid’s wife and Naeem’s mother Ambreen said: “I still can't understand or believe why and how this happened. But, I know that my husband is a hero. He always helped people and even in his last moments, he did what he could to help others." Khaja Mohiuddin, a chef, described how a fellow worshipper saved people by tackling the gunman while he and about 15 others hid at the Linwood mosque. He said: “The guy was there with us and said ‘we have to do something”, so he ran and just pulled the gun down.” One of Mr Mohiuddin's friends was killed, shot through the head. Two others are seriously injured, one with a collarbone “ripped off”, the other shot in the shoulder. New Zealand mosque massacre - In pictures While Prime Minister Ardern has vowed to change New Zealand’s gun laws, for Mr Mohiuddin it is too late. “That doesn’t return our loved ones. I know I have lost someone about whom I care, and my two other friends, I do not know for how many months they will be on a bed," he said. "It will not return their time nor my mate’s life back.," he said. Others feared killed were Mohammad Atta Alayan, Palestinian refugee who helped raise funds to build the mosque and Haroon Mahmood, a PhD student from Pakistan, who had two young children. Khaled Mustafa, Syrian refugee who fled Isil, was shot while praying. New Zealand futsal goalkeeper Atta Elayyan, 33, was also killed, as was retired engineer Ali Elmadani, who migrated from the United Arab Emirates in 1998. His daughter Maha Elmadani said: "My Dad always told us to be strong and patient so that's what we are all trying to do. For his sake. He considered New Zealand home and never thought something like this would happen here." The city of Christchurch once again bears the hallmarks of compassion that residents leaned on to help them through the dark months after the earthquake of February 2011 that claimed 185 lives. Opposite the hospital a row of traffic cones was adorned with flowers, while a nearby safety barrier was littered with bouquets. Terror in New Zealand | Read more A poster adorned with angels, butterflies and flowers read: “In loveing (sic) memory of all the beautiful Muslims who had their whole beautiful lives ripped away. We love you all and we know you are in a better place now. We will always walk with you side by side.” Lianne Dalziel, the Mayor of Christchurch said the killings were an “act of cowardice” by a “terrorist” who came to the city with “hate in his heart”. She added: “I want us not to be divided by what has happened, because hate divides. I want us to be united, and that’s what love and compassion and kindness are all about. “I believe that we can, because of our previous experience, recover from this. We can recover in a way that we will be stronger than we were before.” New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said this morning that the death toll has risen to 50 after investigators found another body at one of the mosques.  "Security around mosques will continue until Police believe there is no threat," he said. Two other people, a man and a woman, arrested soon after the shootings were not linked to the gunman. The woman had been released without charge, the man has been charged with firearm offences.    A list of those killed in the shootings had now been compiled and families had been advised. Mr Bush said the bodies have not yet been returned to the families as police need to determine the cause of death for each one.   "We have been working pathologist and coroners, and the chief coroner, on that and we have to be clear on cause of death and the identity before we can do that. "We are so aware of the cultural and religious needs so we are doing that as quickly and sensitively as possible," Mr Bush added. The Police chief also said that it was "obvious" that a modified weapon had been used.

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[scottishcanadagoose]

Rubbish Opinions of the Past

Hello everyone. </shaun_jen> Seeing as I didn’t have enough time at the New Year, I’d like to reflect on an old opinion of mine which I now think was crap.

Basically, in my mid-twenties, I hated Tumblr. I believe I called it a “midden” or something similar. I wasn’t on about the interface, or the connection “bungling” or anything; I just genuinely believed it was solely composed of awful people who were ruining people’s perceptions of “the left”. Now, this obviously doesn’t apply to anyone I follow now, because I like all of you! I really do! I would have done back then too. And the thing is, I’ve never really explained why I had this impression of Tumblr. Being the sort of person who likes to dwell on mistakes and then feel guilty about them, it’s probably a good idea to do so.

Essentially, my only exposure to Tumblr was through links posted on Reddit, and other similar places. And let’s face it, sane things tend not to get posted on other sites very often. All I saw was what I would now regard as… the most unstable elements of the site. You know; people throwing tantrums about minor arguments online; calling other people ABLEIST, PROBLEMATIC SCUM for what I regarded as minor, unintentional mistakes (and probably were, tbf, although some not, as I’ll explain later); suicide-baiting and manipulating other people into doing what they wanted them to do; and just general cry-bullying, horrible, reprehensible behaviour. I was horrified and, quite honestly, scared of them. I saw “Tumblr” as being composed of this army of “SJWs” (yeah, I used that unironically for a bit. Cringey as anything. I thought it just referred to people who created drama and assumed bad intentions, rather than being a derogatory term for anyone left of Goebbels) I thought they were basically self-promoting, self-aggrandising people who wanted to ruin everyone else’s lives because of minor, imagined or inconsequential slights, and who wanted to control everyone’s behaviours through spreading rumours and “signal-boosting”. That’s all I saw. I saw tons of reblogs of rubbish, and even though the numbers of reblogs were comparatively minute compared to Tumblr’s overall user base, I thought that meant that they were all there was here. I actually heard there was a decent trans community on here, but I was too scared to sign up because I thought I’d get jumped on for accidentally not being woke enough and then some unhinged individual would slander me as something horrible and I’d lose my job etc. Yeah... it’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? Not like me to catastrophise or anything, *cough*. But I saw a lot of strangers being accused of things, and, not knowing anyone involved, thought it might be me, too.

I was also a good bit more naive about the intentions of bigots online. It honestly took me until not long before Trump was elected to realise how bigoted a lot of people actually are, and that it didn’t make a blind bit of difference how much of a “well-behaved” minority I or anyone else was, in the long run. I was also blind to how many bad-faith arguments were used by a lot of “reasonable-sounding” people to make them seem like they just had “genuine concerns” or some other euphemistic bollocks rather than being, well, nasty bigots. For God’s sake, I even stood up for that Wings over Scotland prat at one point. In my early twenties I even followed Glinner. I was just way too willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, and when I saw other people not giving them that benefit, I - wrongly - assumed they were generally looking for offence and attention, ironically doing something that I hated other people doing. I was jaded by having been exposed to people who were just generally the worst sort of people, and through a bit too much idealism. It took me way too long, and I belatedly appreciate the efforts of other forum-goers who tried to change my mind at the time.

This won’t be the last Rubbish Opinions I Used To Have post. I’ll have more later. It’s not because I’m indecisive; I just genuinely thought stupid things in the past.

tl;dr: you’re actually mostly a great bunch of lads, ladies and enbies and I was a judgemental prat. Soz.

[lets-frick-frack-blog]

Quebec's Duplessis Orphan Scandal - InfoBarrel

Quebec's baby Black busty amateur milf MarketMillions Produced as well as 1000's Sold In researching this story in which I thought I knew therefore well, extra details and also shameful scandals found light. In November 29, 2010 your grievance was filed within an effort for you to seek justice from your Catholic Church, government ministries and even the media. In 2012, the particular Duplessis Orphans finally accepted a settlement offered through the Quebec Government. Many subsided via existence coping along with prescription drugs and countless some other are generally mentally ill. He features interviewed orphans, healthcare staff, clerics, hospital directors, and nuns while additionally delving to the atrocities themselves. Needless for you to say nearly all of the youngsters were perfectly healthy yet their own globe turned inverted using this selection which was for you to seal their own fates. However, in 2004 a new court overruled this decision along with only one victim got $100,000. Dr. others were held throughout straitjackets, lobotomized, provided drugs and had experimental surgery completed for them below the cruelest conditions. Inside 1994 your Canadian Government awarded $100,000 to each in the 71 most severely incapacitated victims but another 253 had been denied. The Actual Catholic Church in addition denied virtually any wrongdoing saying," Your Church does not intend to existing any kind of apologies to those who identify themselves as Duplessis orphans..." The Actual church continued in order to maintain the friars and nuns had devoted themselves in order to caring for the orphans, supporting these and also enabling many to obtain work. He wrote a novel when he retired known as Maudit Sois tu Enfant (Cursed art Thou, Kid involving Sin) exposing the black industry sale associated with babies as well as the treatment method in the Duplessis orphans by the nuns explaining that the religious institutions stored just about all birth records consequently it was an easy process to alter or even delete these at will. The CIA and also Nazi ConnectionCover Ups at Most Levels.

Credit: WikipediaSilvio Day has been an orphan and an orderly who labored in St. It ended up being this MK-ULTRA plan that was used around the Duplessis orphans. This merchandise has been translated coming from french Throughout this time the particular Quebec Ministry involving Justice denied the crimes. He sought forgiveness for the Catholic Church's handling of sex scandals and also its therapy involving minorities. "It can be period to take stock along with make a fresh start," Ouellet wrote "Mistakes have been made which could have tarnished your image with the Church and for which I humbly request forgiveness." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplessis_Orphans Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis(20 April 1890 - 7 September 1959) served as the 16th Premier regarding Quebec in Quebec, Canada coming from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959. His later a long time get come being referred to as The truly Amazing Darkness thanks to be able to corruption along with scandal. This weblog offers several fascinating info along with pictures inside it taken from the Duplessis orphan survivor at Hopital Saint Michel Archange in Quebec metropolis (now called Hpital RobertGiffard)in 1949,and located in their scrapbook. Amazon Price: Buy Now (price as involving Jul 2, 2016) The Unwanted Orphans100,000 + Abused, tortured as well as killed When Shakespeare penned, "Something is rotten within the state regarding Denmark." he might well happen for you to be composing in regards for you to the province involving Quebec in the 1940's towards the 1960's. Numerous in no way observed their own kids once more and were advised his or her children had died once they inquired with regards to them. He can be quoted as saying:"These criminals calling on his or her own doctors, haven't any thought in any kind of respect with regard to human lives, as well as I do believe, which their coaching came straight out regarding Nazi Germany." At the particular St. The idea will be claimed that 1000s of dead orphans were dumped there along with countless other people were marketed to be dissected for $10.00 each to analyze facilities exactly where zero records exist anymore as well as never did. This specific was the date when the entire third grade class has been declared mentally deficient and so the institution became a new mental facility.

Collusion : The Actual darkish good popularity for your Duplessis Orphans.

http://lunamoth1.blogspot.ca/2011/06/dr-mengele-comes-to-quebec-1949.htmlCredit: public domaine. When the black industry scandal created rumblings in the Quebec papers inside the mid 1950's, individuals were stunned to find that will selling toddlers ended up being really not a crime within Quebec! There can be credence to become able to this story as Dr. Huge family members along with poor education produced desperate circumstances and many households gave their own youngsters for you to orphanages hoping to obtain rid of it when their particular finances improved. Jean de Dieu Hospital in Montreal, the graveyard has been known as the pigsty as the nun's pigs were kept there. Extra to those numbers were the countless youngsters born from wedlock and furthermore the church run hospitals and orphanages were full. Doctors frequently targeted those youngsters who had zero families. In your photo about the correct Dr. the church encouraged large families, told parents what work or duties his or her youngsters must undertake whether a situation in the church, to care for the aging parents, farm their particular terrain or teach. Your Sisters involving Mercy alone created $5 million bucks selling thousands of babies inside Canada. This may be their particular story. Maurice Duplessis

Credit: Wikipedia 1990 - Alice Quiton, in addition came forward speaking regarding the girl experiences. Sadly for many involving the children who possess been adopted their own correct identities will never be called falsified papers and foggy details hinder their own analysis at each turn. Throughout a three month time period he moved 67 bodies along with says that he noticed youngsters with holes bored inside their heads then one having its mind falling out. Greed, cruelty and a insufficient respect regarding humanity through those who were in a position regarding believe in and energy have got most which away. Reading and Study Material Activist as well as author Rod Vienneau says that, "no court within the territory really desires to touch this place." adding, "I get written hundreds of letters to every imaginable higher-official inside the Vatican, in the Canadian government along with inside the U.S.; this is equivalent for the Canadian holocaust, yet everybody inside the Vatican, within the North American governments as well as within the media can be covering it up." Perceived Closure and also Compensation Writer as well as Duplessis Orphan Representative Rod Vienneau, whose wife was a Duplessis orphan, spent seven a long time researching his book published in 2008 and also titled Collusion: The Actual dark History with the Duplessis Orphans. a answer towards the overcrowding had been merely for you to sell the actual regular toddlers and discard the actual unwanted, feeble minded or even deformed. 1964 - Alice Pozanska, wife regarding Jacques Parizeau who would later turn out in order to be Premier associated with Quebec revealed in Cite Libre in the atrocities implemented to orphans that were kept "ultra secret." http://www.examiner.com/article/duplessis-orphans-declared-mentally-deficient-order-to-obtain-federal-grant-money

Babies had been sold for $40.00 for you to $5000.00 towards the poor and they got approximately $10,000 from your wealthy. For You To this day many with the survivors have not really end up being in a place to have their own own records alteredand they may well be nevertheless deemed as mentally deficient.For example,Mont Providence Catholic Orphanage north involving Montreal, was offered with 6 million money over a new 3 year time period beginning through March 1955. Nonetheless after they realized that they will could be paid $2.25 a day for kids deemed mentally ill, suddenly, overnight, orphanages were renamed as asylums and also psychiatric hospitals as well as the youngsters within termed mentally ill. Once the terrain ended up being sold regarding development, workers discovered enough bones to fill countless boxes and bags that have got been obviously human however nobody would investigate further despite the particular public outcry. Over the actual years stories possess arrive forward in regards for you to the abuse they will endured at the hands of these "Sisters of Mercy" which includes being thrown down stairs, electroshocks, sexual abuse, ice cold baths, beaten along with tied together with chains and months as well as numerous years of solitary confinement with regard to trivial offences such as failing to wash any nun's socks.However, your worst has been yet to occur because these helpless victims had become the target involving even more unspeakable crimes. The Duplessis Orphans Explained The Victims come Forward 1959 - Senator Jacques Hebert with the authorities wrote a book titled Scandal de Bordeaux describing how more than 800 orphans were held against their particular will in Bordeaux Jail throughout Montreal beneath appalling conditions. After 18 years of having the runaround from Quebec's Justice system, attorney Jonathan Levy from Washington D.C. Donna Roth of Michigan declared when the lady achieved some other ladies who ended up adopted by simply American Jewish families, these people showed one another their particular child photos: "There it was throughout black and also white, baby girls and adult women who didn't appear Jewish at all." Church cover up The Bedard Commission ended up being established to research each the actual selling regarding infants and additionally the a lot more heinous crimes involving drug trials, lobotomies and experimentation by psychiatrists as well as doctors. other photos get surfaced and also Mengele is identified within many of them.Josef Mengele (16 March 1911- 7 February 1979) was obviously a German SS officerand a physician in the Concentration camp Auschwitz. 1964 - Noel Flavien, the first orphan to speak out,came forward. 1992 - Much More and much more orphans came forward and also had been provided television interviews as interest grew. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2006/12/21/qc-duplessisorphans.html In 2003, Archbishop involving Quebec City, Marc Cardinal Ouellet issued a wide-ranging mea culpa admitting that will "errors were committed" within the past through particular Catholics as well as other church officials. Throughout any scandal involving coverups, deceit, torture and also death just like what went on throughout Nazi Germany, the story of The Actual Duplessis Orphans took years involving political agitation as well as unrest to end up being able to surface. Proof regarding this arises from Robert Carriere a former guardat one of the particular hospitals involved whom held discarded papers and took photographs. And, although hundreds spoke with the torture and also degredation at the hands associated with officials, doctors, priests along with nuns, that they represented thousands a lot more which cannot talk in the grave. Ewen Cameron regarding Canada ended up being in addition concerned along with as he had served as President in the Canadian,AmericanandWorld Psychiatric Associations, the actual American Psychopathological Association and the Society regarding Biological Psychiatry during his career, he ended up being asked within 1945 to gauge war criminalRudolph Hess' psychological state at Nuremberg.Cameron may be the subject associated with a magazine called, the Most dangerous Game which usually traces a brief history involving top-secret CIA mind manage operation termed MK-ULTRA: from your covert importation of NAZI scientists at the conclusion of WWII, towards the illegal brainwashing experiments conducted around the his patients. Day recalls, "One day there was a new "priest" inside the hospital known as Father Josef. Nuns had been due for you to the process associated with caring for that orphans within orphanages pertaining to .75 cents the day. five days later Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, Archbishop involving Montreal went to date concerning deny which he had heard in the abuse in the Duplessis orphans. 1992 - The police enquiry had been established along with 240 survivors were interviewed along with 321 testimonies were offered for the Crown Prosecutors Office. In the actual hospitals following the young mothers gave birth, the particular infants had been sent downstairs being "sorted" according to looks, often provided false papers, and named according to the month with the year. Quebec Premier Bernard Landry offered a new "fault-free" provide regarding compensation towards the Duplessis Orphans. Mengele escaped Europe inside 1948, a range of say using the assistance of the particular Vatican, then moved concerning to numerous countries in South Usa then to points north including Montreal. agreed to be able to file a human rights complains with the UN Human rights Council of Geneva. His just function at Auschitz concerned Trauma-Based Thoughts Manage which became the foundation for that MK-ULTRA plan brought straight into impact through Allen Dulles with the CIA inside 1953. Other People had been smuggled across the border towards the united States where Jewish families welcomed them with open up arms despite the very fact that many with the infants were not born Jewish. The idea is amazing to end up being able to think that this type of atrocity could have taken devote Canada but it would as well as it was an appliance cover up regarding astronomic proportions reaching beyond our borders. In Quebec until days gone by couple of decades, the Catholic Church wielded great power amongst its French Canadian followers as well as in to the government. Josef Mengele along with I acknowledged him saying, 'That will be Father Josef.' " Father Josef labored in the hospital together with director Camille Laurin who would later become Quebec's Minister regarding Health. "It has been the actual acceptance by our society of your sombre episode within our history." Each Along With Every individual received a new $10,000 lump sum along with $1,000 for every yr expended throughout an asylum, this means regarding $25,000 for each person. Mengele is leaning over the patient about the left. http://www.infobarrel.com/Quebecs_Duplessis_Orphans The story with the Duplessis Orphans is not widely known in Canada thanks to pay ups plus a lack of accountability about the section of the actual church as well as the government.When one researches this deplorable era inside Canadian history it's distinct that lots of higher powered individuals have ties for you to this story and wished to keep it quiet.Sadly, no issue how many apologies are usually made and no matter how huge the particular cheques for compensation, the particular sad truth is that countless men and some women these days are already robbed involving productive meaningful lives and fulfilling relationships. That They finish off through saying that the Church must help those in need of assistance today rather than appear back about individuals from your past. Later On I ended up being demonstrated any photo involving Dr. Your orphans have been hoping to find a larger settlement nevertheless choose to simply accept the actual offer noting that,"considering in which a few regarding the folks researching the particular scandals were making $1000.00 each day this compensation can be insulting and ludicrous." Because consequently many with the orphans ended up abused mentally, actually and also sexually as well as their schooling ended up withdrawn, they were not in the position to obtain jobs, to carry out typical relationships also to work as typical human beings. However, several have been able to unravel the particular mystery and in addition have discovered their particular birth mothers and fathers through determination and luck. Jean de Dieu Hospital inside the 1950's and also 1960's. Individuals who have been retarded as well as deformed had been initially sent in order to asylums along with later sent in order to work on Quebec farms under appallingly cruel conditions. Your leftover infants had been put in boxes, loaded on a spead boat or even KLM plane as well as flown to end up being able to France. His process was transporting your corpses of fellow orphans killed within secret experiments, from your operating rooms downstairs for the basement morgue pertaining to later on burial at the actual rear of the actual hospital

[bookishgryffindor1x1]

Character Development

Elizabeth

01 / BASICS

Full Name: Elizabeth Kenna Argyle Nickname: Lizzie, only used rarely by people close to her Sex/Gender: Female Birthday: 4th May 1963 Age: 16 Astrological Sign: Taurus Occupation: Student at Hogwarts Spoken Languages: English, some Scots Gaelic Sexual Orientation: Straight Birthplace: Inveraray, Scotland Relationship status: Single

02/ PHYSICAL TRAITS

Race: Human Ethnicity: White British Hair Color/Style: Red, straight, reaches to her mid-back; is usually kept in a ponytail Eye Color: Blue Accent: A fairly broad but relaxed West Highland Scottish accent. Height: 5′4″ Tattoos: None Piercings: One in each ear. Unique Attributes: Elizabeth is heavily freckled across her face, arms and legs. Defining Gestures/Movements: She tends to tuck loose strands of hair behind her ears as a fidget, and keeps her arms folded most of the time when talking to others. Posture: She usually stands up straight, but sometimes slouches when she’s tired or unhappy.

03 / PERSONALITY TRAITS

Pet Peeves: People taking her things without asking, or just hiding them so she can’t find them. Hobbies/Interests: Elizabeth is a member of the Chess Club, enjoys any games that can be played with a pen and a bit of paper, and is a founding member of a small informal club that plays games with a ball and assorted charms - the basic aim being to keep the ball moving between players by bouncing it off walls, floors and the like, while using any charm they like to affect the ball as it moves. Also, like her brother, she has been learning Scottish dance and fencing from a young age. Special Skills/Abilities: Excellent hand-eye coordination, has something of a knack with animals. Likes: Thunderstorms, teasing her brother, Muggle clothes shops Dislikes: Purists, the cold, deep water Insecurities: Mainly she’s worried about messing up her exams. Quirks/Eccentricities: She has a habit of swearing in Scots Gaelic, and will stop to pay attention to any cat that crosses her path. Strengths: Confident, helpful, and gentle Weaknesses: Hot-headed, stubborn, emotional Speaking Style: She tends to talk fairly quickly and clearly, though not particularly loud. Temperament: She’s very friendly to anyone who seems willing to talk, but she does not take well to anyone giving offence and can flare up very easily.

04 / FAMILY & HOME

Family:  Glen Argyle (father), Kenna Argyle (mother), Jason Glen Argyle (brother), Micheil Argyle (paternal grandfather), Jean Argyle (paternal grandmother), Rory Macmillan (maternal grandfather), Ealasaid Macmillan (maternal grandmother), Fergus Macmillan (maternal uncle) How does she feel about her family?: She’s a bit of a daddy’s girl, and although she gets a bit irritated when her grandparents tut at her tomboyish ways, she appreciates that they just want what’s best for her, even if that’s not necessarily what she wants. She adores her big brother, and although he’s just as protective of her as the rest of the family, she gets her own back on him by being an annoying little sister whenever he’s smothering her too much. How does her family feel about her?:  As the baby of the family, she’s always been wrapped in cotton wool and a little bit spoiled. Her parents try to encourage her to be a little more independent, but this makes little headway against her overly protective grandparents. Her Sorting into Slytherin was quite a shock; she doesn’t have quite the same loud, vocal drive and ambition that put her brother in there, but they have relaxed on seeing that she is still the same cheery young woman they know and love. Pets: She got a black kitten as a pet when she started her first year, and named him Lonan. He’s fully-grown now and a regular mischief-maker in he common room. Where does she live?: When not at school, she lives in the family home on the outskirts of Inveraray, Scotland. What is it like there?: It is far enough away from the main town that the environment is reasonably quiet, and with the loch close by the entire area is tranquil and comfortable. Description of her home: The old stone house is reasonably spacious for its age, though this is partly due to having been expanded a few times with magic. It has a garden surrounded with a low stone wall and hedges at the back of the house. Inside, it’s furnished in a cosy, old-fashioned style, with lots of old furniture and dark wood, but the decor is light enough that it doesn’t feel too cramped. Description of her bedroom: Despite being pretty small, it’s very cosy, decorated with warm reds and yellows. The solid wooden bed against one wall has a thick, bright yellow quilt, and the heavy wardrobe is against the wall at the foot of the bed. A desk, covered with books and scribbled-on papers, sits under the window, with a bookshelf next to it.

05/ THIS OR THAT

Introvert or Extrovert?: Extrovert; although she’s not loud and boisterous, she does enjoy spending time around others and loves to meet new people. Optimist or Pessimist?: She’s somewhere in the middle; while she likes to look on the bright side, there’s a streak of cynicism that stops her from getting too carried away. Leader or Follower?: She’s definitely more of a leader type. Confident or Self-Conscious?: Usually she’s quite confident. Cautious or Careless?: Cautious - although she has a quick temper, she’s reasonably good at controlling it most of the time, and doesn’t just leap into situations. Religious or Secular?: Secular - she wasn’t ever raised in a religion, but she attends church sometimes for significant holidays. Passionate or Apathetic?: Passionate. She picks and chooses her causes, but she gives herself to them 100%. Book Smarts or Street Smarts?: Book smarts. She’s been sheltered enough that she’s not really as streetwise as she could be. Compliments or Insults?: Depends on how she’s feeling, but she’s usually more likely to give someone an affectionate insult than a compliment. Pajamas or Underwear?: She prefers pyjamas or nightdresses rather than risk someone walking in on her less dressed.

06 / FAVORITES

Favorite Color: A really bright, sunshiny yellow is her favourite. Favorite Clothing Style/Outfit: When she doesn’t have to wear her school robes, she’s usually wearing Muggle dresses, mostly with floral patterns on them. Favorite Bands/Songs/Type of Music: She doesn’t have a favourite; she’ll listen to pretty much anything people are playing. Favorite Movies: She’s never seen any. Favorite TV Shows: She’s never watched TV. Favorite Books: She likes to curl up with a set of children’s books about the adventures of a group of Animagi named the Creature Crew. Favorite Foods/Drinks: She loves roast lamb dinners and sausages, and her favourite sweets are Fizzing Whizzbees. As far as drinks go, she’ll happily curl up with a cup of tea or a glass of pumpkin juice. Favorite Sports/Sports Teams: While not as avid a fan as her brother, she’s a supporter of the Quidditch team Pride of Portree. Favorite Actors/Actresses: N/A Favorite Time of Day: She likes evenings, as she’s definitely no morning person. Favorite Weather/Season: She likes sunny days, and summer’s her favourite season because it’s the warmest. Favorite Animal: Her beloved cat Lonan, but she likes most animals.

07 / MISCELLANEOUS

Fears/Superstitions: She’s terrified of kelpies; when she was about six, a kelpie in the local loch tried to attack her, and it was only due to Jason’s intervention and accidental magic that she got away unharmed. She also believes in a number of superstitions, having grown up in an environment full of them - white heather is lucky; you should never place new shoes on the table; if you spill salt you should throw some over your left shoulder; rowan wards off evil (this one is particularly significant to her, as her wand is made of rowan wood). Political Views: She isn’t much for politics, but if she thought about she’d probably say she leans towards the liberal side of things. Religion/Philosophy of Life: She believes that there’s some greater power out there, probably, but it’s not something that can be relied on to help and she’d rather try to make a better world herself. Allergies: None. Addictions: None, fortunately. Best/Worst School Subject: Her best subject is Charms, whereas her worst used to waver between History of Magic and Transfiguration and is now Potions. How does she get money?: Her parents give her an allowance, which is generally sufficient to buy the things she wants. How is she with technology?: She’s never interacted with it much, but it does make her a little curious.

08 / PAST & FUTURE

Fondest Memory: One warm summer evening when she was about nine years old; her parents and grandparents were all out in the garden enjoying a meal cooked over a little campfire they’d set up, and she and her brother were playing at camping with a tent they’d rigged up out of an old blanket. Deepest, Darkest Secret: She’s not really got any terrible secrets - the worst is probably letting Jason take the blame for a valuable piece of china that she broke. Dream Vacation: She’d love to go to the Caribbean, or some other tropical seaside location, and just explore for days. Best thing that has ever happened to this character: Passing her OWLs. Worst thing that has ever happened to this character: Being attacked by a kelpie as a little girl. What does she want to be when she grows up?: She wants to work with animals - at present her intent is to join the family business. Perfect Date: She’s never really thought about it much - mostly because she’s still at the stage of “all the boys I know are morons and I can’t imagine going out with one” - but she’d enjoy a day out somewhere pretty.

[teeky185]

The stricken Muslim community of Christchurch was preparing to bury its dead after the far right terrorist attack on two mosques which stunned New Zealand. Graves for the victims of the worst mass shooting in the country’s history were being dug on Saturday, in anticipation of their bodies being released by the authorities. Workmen using diggers carefully prepared the ground in a quiet corner of Memorial Park Cemetery, with colleagues erecting a cloth over a fence to preserve the dignity of their work on part of the site set aside for Muslim burials, the graves facing Mecca. A few hours earlier Brenton Tarrant, the Australian national accused of the rampage, appeared in court in Christchurch, where he made a white supremacist gesture with his hand while flanked by two police officers. The 28-year-old was charged with one initial count of murder but more are expected to follow and he was remanded in custody until April 5. Police believe Tarrant was responsible for both the attack on the Al Noor mosque and the shooting at the Linwood Islamic Centre a short drive away. Fifty people were killed. A further 36, mostly men, are being treated for injuries at the city’s main hospital, the youngest a boy of two. Two people remain in a critical condition, including a four-year-old girl who was taken to Auckland’s Starship Hospital. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (C) speaks with a representative of the Canterbury Refugee Centre in Christchurch on March 16 Credit: Marty Melville/AFP Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, said yesterday the country’s gun laws would be tightened, with regulations around semi-automatic weapons, such as the ones allegedly used by Tarrant, "one of the issues" the government would consider. Praising the bravery of two rural police officers who detained Tarrant at gunpoint as he allegedly tried to flee from the scene of the shootings, Ardern said he would have gone on target more victims. "It was absolutely was his intention to continue with his attack,” she said. Among Tarrant’s alleged victims were children, the elderly, recently arrived refugees and long settled migrants who had built a new life in a country one of them had described as "a slice of paradise". Daoud Nabi, a 71-year-old retired engineer who migrated from Afghanistan to New Zealand following the Soviet invasion, was the first to die on what Ardern would later call the country’s “darkest day.” In the grisly video allegedly filmed by Tarrant and streamed live online during the attack, the pensioner can be heard saying “hello brother” as he approached the gunman at the entrance to the Al Noor mosque. There were reports that Mr Nabi stepped in front of someone else to confront Tarrant, taking the bullets for himself. Omar Nabi speaks outside the district court in Christchurch, about losing his father Haji Daoud in the mosque attacks Credit: Edgar Su/Reuters His son Omar, 43, said that was completely in character for his father, who had believed New Zealand to be a "slice of paradise." “Just helping people is his main thing. It makes me feel like he wanted other people to live,” he said. “To die in the masjid, in the mosque, if something like this happens the golden gates open for you.” At just three-years-old Mucad Ibrahim is thought to have been the youngest victim of the massacre. He had gone to the Al Noor mosque with his father and older brother Abdi, but was lost in the melee when the firing started. Abdi described his little brother as "energetic, playful and liked to smile and laugh a lot", confessing he felt nothing but “hatred” for his killer. Barely a year older than Mucad was Abdullahi Dirie, who was photographed cradled in a man’s arms outside the mosque after being fatally shot. His father and four siblings survived the attack. Abdullahi’s family had made their home in New Zealand after fleeing Somalia in the mid-1990s as refugees. His uncle Abdulrahman Hashi, 60, a preacher at Dar Al Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis, said: “You cannot imagine how I feel. He was the youngest in the family. This is a problem of extremism. Some people think the Muslims in their country are part of that, but these are innocent people.” Mucad Ibrahim, 3, who is feared dead after being lost in the melee during the terror attack on the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch The family of Khaled Mustafa thought they had found safety in New Zealand after fleeing the bloody chaos of Syria only a few months ago. But he too became a victim of hatred when he was shot dead while praying with his two sons, Hamza, who is now missing feared dead and Zaid, 13, who is recovering from a six-hour operation on his wounds. Ali Akil, a spokesman for Syrian Solidarity New Zealand, said Mr Mustafa's wife and daughter, who were not at the mosque on Friday, were in "total shock, devastation and horror". He added: “They survived atrocities and arrived here in a safe haven only to be killed in the most atrocious way.." Among those also feared killed was a sports loving teenager described by his family as "a regular, typical, Kiwi kid." Sayyad Milne, who had dreams of playing football professionally, had gone to the Al Noor mosque with his mother Noraini. She managed to flee but Sayyad was cut down as the terrorist made his way through the building. Brydie Henry, Sayyad's half sister, said she was "devastated" by the attack. "They were good people, just living good lives. It's just awful," she added. Sayyad Milne, 14, who was at Friday prayers when the shooting started, is believed to be dead Hosne Ara Parvin, 42, who moved to New Zealand from Bangladesh, is reported to have taken the full force of the bullets after leaping in front of the gunman to shield her husband Farid Uddin, who was in a wheelchair. Naeem Rashid, a Pakistani-born teacher, also tried to rush the gunman, but died later of his wounds. His son, 22-year-old Talha Naeem, a civil engineering graduate, was among those killed. Mr Rashid’s wife and Naeem’s mother Ambreen said: “I still can't understand or believe why and how this happened. But, I know that my husband is a hero. He always helped people and even in his last moments, he did what he could to help others." Khaja Mohiuddin, a chef, described how a fellow worshipper saved people by tackling the gunman while he and about 15 others hid at the Linwood mosque. He said: “The guy was there with us and said ‘we have to do something”, so he ran and just pulled the gun down.” One of Mr Mohiuddin's friends was killed, shot through the head. Two others are seriously injured, one with a collarbone “ripped off”, the other shot in the shoulder. While Prime Minister Ardern has vowed to change New Zealand’s gun laws, for Mr Mohiuddin it is too late. “That doesn’t return our loved ones. I know I have lost someone about whom I care, and my two other friends, I do not know for how many months they will be on a bed," he said. "It will not return their time nor my mate’s life back.," he said. Others feared killed were Mohammad Atta Alayan, Palestinian refugee who helped raise funds to build the mosque and Haroon Mahmood, a PhD student from Pakistan, who had two young children. Khaled Mustafa, Syrian refugee who fled Isil, was shot while praying. Christchurch residents pay their respects by placing flowers for the victims of the mosque attacks Credit: Tessa Burrows/AFP New Zealand futsal goalkeeper Atta Elayyan, 33, was also killed, as was retired engineer Ali Elmadani, who migrated from the United Arab Emirates in 1998. His daughter Maha Elmadani said: "My Dad always told us to be strong and patient so that's what we are all trying to do. For his sake. He considered New Zealand home and never thought something like this would happen here." The city of Christchurch once again bears the hallmarks of compassion that residents leaned on to help them through the dark months after the earthquake of February 2011 that claimed 185 lives. Opposite the hospital a row of traffic cones was adorned with flowers, while a nearby safety barrier was littered with bouquets. A poster adorned with angels, butterflies and flowers read: “In loveing (sic) memory of all the beautiful Muslims who had their whole beautiful lives ripped away. We love you all and we know you are in a better place now. We will always walk with you side by side.” Lianne Dalziel, the Mayor of Christchurch said the killings were an “act of cowardice” by a “terrorist” who came to the city with “hate in his heart”. She added: “I want us not to be divided by what has happened, because hate divides. I want us to be united, and that’s what love and compassion and kindness are all about. “I believe that we can, because of our previous experience, recover from this. We can recover in a way that we will be stronger than we were before.” Police Commissioner Mike Bush said this morning that the death toll has risen to 50 Credit: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said this morning that the death toll has risen to 50 after investigators found another body at one of the mosques.  "Security around mosques will continue until Police believe there is no threat," he said. Two other people, a man and a woman, arrested soon after the shootings were not linked to the gunman. The woman had been released without charge, the man has been charged with firearm offences.    A list of those killed in the shootings had now been compiled and families had been advised. Mr Bush said the bodies have not yet been returned to the families as police need to determine the cause of death for each one.   "We have been working pathologist and coroners, and the chief coroner, on that and we have to be clear on cause of death and the identity before we can do that. "We are so aware of the cultural and religious needs so we are doing that as quickly and sensitively as possible," Mr Bush added. The Police chief also said that it was "obvious" that a modified weapon had been used.

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