#its nicely built up i think and the connections built in the series remain strong and aren't exactly dismissed lightly

[junipaca]

mairuma is so nice i wish more ppl got into it

[hopeymchope]

re: toxic fanbases. I'm not good at telling what fanbases are toxic. I'm both a doormat ("that rando who started yelling at me all of a sudden probably has a good reason and I'm dumb for not seeing it 👍") and a weirdo who tends to stay within very small circles. With Danganronpa, I feel like there's *something* that makes it a little jarring compared to other communities, although it's by far not the worst community I've personally interacted with.

Its popularity definitely plays a massive role; it's actually impressive to see how active Danganronpa circles remain after all this time, but the downside is that there's a lot of brainrot, distant memories, and most importantly people who've been involved with it for WAY too long. I myself have definitely grown horribly bored of having the same tired debates be brought up time and time again - I can imagine people with a different personality from mine getting very upset over that.

Though I don't feel a connection to that aspect at this time, the prevalent young fanbase also comes with its qualities and flaws.

I could go on, because this community is so large and so old that it's genuinely, like I already mentioned, jarring at times. I'll turn my back from being told DRAE is irredeemable media because it uses dark humour to see someone draw a Komaru with giant tits requesting coitus. There are times when interacting with Danganronpa fans has made me wish I'd just never known about Danganronpa at all, so all things considered, even if I can't put words on it, there's a strong negative aspect to it.

At the same time, I don't know how it being Danganronpa specifically relates to some negative experiences I had - was some of the abuse I endured as a Wiki admin related to the way the DR fandom is? Or did it have to do with Wikis more than it did with DR, with French users more than it did DR? Maybe the problem is that this series has given so many of us such intense brainrot and we can't stop getting involved with it.

Sorry if this long ask is annoying in any way - I figured you might be interested in exploring the conversation around how the DR fandom might come across as toxic, objectively or subjectively OTL

One thing I remember for sure is that when I posted Akudama Drive LGBTQ headcanons, I felt perfectly fine and happy about it - but when I decided to post my Danganronpa headcanons too, I had a strong feeling that I was taking a risk, however small. That's not a very nice feeling to get as an adult who's just trying to be a little happy and silly with PNGs.

Oh, I don't mind a long ask at all! I'm grateful for the detailed thought you put into this, honestly. :) I'm a pretty wordy person myself — you may have noticed.

I think a lot of what you're describing as negatives within the DR community are unfortunate constants with fandoms of ANY popular media these days. Not ALL of it, but....

Every piece of media is gonna be declared irredeemable/offensive/problematic by some parties now if it delves into any kind of darkness or deals with any kind of major crimes, it seems like I've seen more than one person online state — with a straight face, mind you — stuff like "Danganronpa is toxic AF, many of those characters are LITERALLY murderers" and I'm just over here thinking are you fucking serious? I don't remember seeing people say stuff like this in my fandom circles before 2019 or so, but I see it everywhere now. It seems to have grown more prevalent since the 2020s hit? There are people who just can't stand to deal with any moral grayness, any dark theming, etc — and they don't think anyone else should allowed to enjoy that stuff either. (Now I'm wondering whether there are people similarly dismissing Akudama Drive. Much smaller fandom, so maybe you don't see that. But I can imagine someone grumbling "These characters are LITERALLY criminals, wtf." LOL)

We all know Internet Rule 34, but I feel like there are certain built-in multipliers to it that increase how widespread it is. Animated media? That's a multiplier that will cause even MORE porn to exist. Japanese media? That's another multiplier. Which means there's tons of porn of DR characters — even for the teen characters that're underage in most countries like Komaru. At least I've never stumbled across porn of the small children like the Warriors of Hope, THANK FUCKING GOD. I sadly don't doubt that it exists, but I hope to god it remains in a dark corner, out of my goddamn sight.

And I definitely feel much, MUCH more afraid to say anything about LGBTQ headcanons for popular media than I do for relatively small fandoms. Maybe that's partly symptomatic of being American in an era where tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ people is sliding horiffically backwards? At least I think I'm safter to share such things on Tumblr than I would be on Reddit. I'd be afraid to talk about my personal DR LGBTQ headcanons, too. I've even drafted a post about that once and then been like "You know what? No. I'm not opening myself up to abuse for this," leading me to delete it. I've done similarly for the Madoka Magica fandom as well... too active, too big = too likely to result in blowback. I believe Akudama Drive is a pretty small fandom, though, so it makes sense to me why that'd feel like a more comfortable place to talk LGBTQ concepts.

But with all of that said, I can't claim that the infighting over interpretations of characters and events that I see on the DR Wiki is something that every fandom deals with. Maybe some of them do; honestly, Fandom Wikis weren't really so huge a thing before I got deep into DR in the back half of the 2010s, and I haven't really gotten involved with any of the Fandom Wikis I've come across afterwards either. So I don't know for sure! But it seems like that could be uniquely unpleasant about the DR fandom — the way people define "canon" as a matter of personal interpretation.

Since I'm stuck on the English side of the DR Wiki, I'm not certain whether you deal with the same stuff in the French incarnation. Characters like Komaeda and Ouma are especially difficult to police — they have so many fans who think they are pure of heart, and so many fans who find them loathesomely manipulate, and you can't necessarily be certain what about them is true or false. Put all that together, and it's hard to keep things to "Just The Facts" when people fundamentally disagree on what the facts ARE, which can lead to a lot of infighting among the people editing the thing! God... even deciphering the truth about what's going on in V3 and determining how we should or shouldn't explain that haziness is an awfully sticky wicket all by itself.

[romantasyrabbittrail]

Long, Barely Coherent Thoughts about The Rise of Skywalker

Since some of you wanted to hear my thoughts about “The Rise of Skywalker”, I’ve taken some time to write them up and provide context for why I responded the way I did.

A small preamble: I didn’t hate it. Hate is a strong word. And there were moments that I liked. Some that I even loved. However, the aggregate feeling for the movie overall was disappointment. For certain elements, it went beyond that into something genuinely painful and I don’t think that will make sense unless I also go into why I loved the previous two installments of this trilogy.

Also, if you loved this movie, I’m very happy for you. This is about my personal response to a piece of media and I make no judgements on those who enjoyed what you saw. I wish I could join you.

Finally, I will be talking about some sensitive subjects, including child loss and abuse. Please be aware of that before reading further.

Okay, so what was my overall impression of The Rise of Skywalker?

Soulless. Cowardly. Incoherent. Badly paced.

I spent large portions of the movie unable to get into the action because the pacing was so breakneck. There was no time to breathe. Consequently, there was never enough time to recover from one rush before another started. If everything is exciting, nothing is.

I think that this was a deliberate choice to cover up the lack of sense behind the exposition. Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron looks dead inside as he temporarily takes up the mantle of Basil Exposition to explain that somehow or other, Emperor Palpatine has returned and there’s a hard time limit on destroying his fleet.

This is a fine example of a running problem throughout the movie. Whereas both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi used visual storytelling to move the story forward, things in TROS were explained through dialogue time and again. And the dialogue was incredibly clunky.

But back to the story. We are given a paper thin explanation of the Emperor’s return, and immediately are thrown into a fetch quest to find the Big Bad. I’m sure it will make an exciting video game adaptation.

The thing though is that the fetch quest makes no sense. One of the wayfinders is found in the first two minutes of the movie. Yes, it’s in the hands of the bad guys. But does the audience not remember that our heroine is bound to the villain? Why couldn’t she try to use that bond to get at the directions? Why does the Resistance not try to use that bond? Has she hidden from them her connection to Kylo Ren? Either she’s built up a wall of mistrust between her found family and herself by keeping the bond a secret, or she’s revealed all and no one thinks to try to use that bond to their advantage. It’s just conveniently overlooked.

Oh, a sidenote. Wayfinder. Why? There is an in-universe word for such objects already. It’s a holocron. Why not use holocron? We throw Star Wars-isms at the audience all the time. It would be an Easter Egg to the diehards while not bothering the general audience one iota.

Back to our fetch quest. We head to the desert planet of Pasaana. There’s a festival going on. A festival about family. Rey looks longingly at children and infants. A child gives her a fertility necklace. And then suddenly she’s connected by her bondmate through the force.

Now it’s no secret that the Rey and Kylo dynamic is one of the reasons I loved the first two movies in the trilogy. The actors have great chemistry. More importantly, the characters have interesting conflict. And yet that conflict seems off in this movie. TLJ left them complicated enemies. But they feel out of character. I don’t understand what each is trying to get out of their encounters. I have to do massive amounts of work to understand their actions and the dialogue doesn’t help. Because it doesn’t ring true.

Setting such details aside, Kylo rips off the necklace in a moment worthy of the Phantom of the Opera and for once it’s an action that makes sense, having both the subtext of obsessive love and jealousy, and the text of offering a clue for analysis to Rey’s location. Bravo. The writers did something right.

Meanwhile, we get a clunky reintroduction of Lando Calrissian. Has he been stuck on this desert for over 7 years? Longer? We just don’t know and he doesn’t tell us. Our heroes hitch a ride and then we get a fun speeder chase.

Okay, a couple more questions. There’s some good stuff here. The omnipresence of the First Order helps convey how thorough their control is. But why doesn’t Rey hotwire the speeder? It was established two movies ago that she’s a good mechanic. And on Jakku that kind of skill makes sense. Why hand that off to Poe? And why this Trio stuff. It’s fanon. We have just been assuming that Finn’s best friends would form the new Han, Luke, and Leia. Because reasons. None of them textual. It was a failure of TFA to not establish this dynamic if this was an essential element of Star Wars that had to be there from the start.

Which gets to the heart the problem in fandom which is that Star Wars is different  for every fan. What is essential to the series is subjective. For me, Star Wars is light sabers, hyperspace, the Force, epic battles, strange world with one biome only per world. So I’ve never felt like something was missing. But if an essential element was a very particular character dynamic (like a good guy Trio), then I can see why some fans felt let down. As if all the pieces were there but never got put together.

Back to Pasaana. We have a brief descent into the underworld in which Rey has a moment of true Jedi compassion and is rewarded when her compassion for the monster leads to an exit from said underworld. Nice. Mythically coherent. And hey, we also get one of the MacGuffins we’ve been searching for, so, bonus.

 Now we get the arrival of Kylo and his backup band. What was the point of these dudes? I mean, they look cool and I can’t wait to edit videos of them to classic NKOTB. But narratively, why are they there? Why did Kylo reforge the mask? Why all these questions in the third act when we should be in the process of tying up loose ends.

Rey, in a moment reminiscent of bull leaping from Crete, goes out to stall them? I guess? And then ends up in a battle of wills with Kylo that leads to her inadvertent use of Force Lightning.

Okay, another side trip. Are they trying to make out that Dark Side Powers are genetic? Because that’s all I can figure. Really, it’s kind of gross because it suggests that darkness isn’t a human trait that we all carry and must confront, but rather that Rey’s specific problem is a dark legacy. Which, that’s Kylo’s story. He’s the one grappling with the legacy of Vader and how that led his family to fear his darkness rather than aid him in confronting it.

Anyway, we have Rey briefly thinking she’s killed Chewie and that sets our heroes off to our next quest location and another set of problems: Why did we make the Latino man a drug runner and car thief? No, this isn’t just putting an unneeded real world spin on the universe. This is about narrative consistency. Because in a bid to make Poe Dameron an ersatz Han Solo, they broke his actual in-universe back story that had been established in comics and novels. That Poe Dameron was a pilot in the New Republic Navy, the child of war heroes Kes Dameron and Shara Bey. He grew up on Yavin IV. When did he have time to be a smuggler? He’s only a few years older that Ben Solo.

See Lucasfilm has a Story Group that is supposed to help keep narrative consistency between the various media released. And I can’t help shake the feeling that the Story Group was ignored or stonewalled. To please who? The fans? Which fans? Because I would be under the impression that the fans who read the novels and the comics, who dig the trivia aspects of the universe, would be the first to desire the universe to remain coherent.

The Kijimi stuff is fun. Babu Frik is adorable. C3PO is touching. There’s good moments. There really are.

We now go to the infiltration of the Star Destroyer (Does it have a name? Nerds, help me out here. Usually I know this sort of thing.) Again, good moments. I like the implication that Rey’s Force Powers disturb Poe, but it’s never brought up again. One of dozens of Chekhov’s guns left unfired. This is incredibly sloppy in the plotting. Hux is the mole!?! Fun. Yet, again, wasted. And out of character, but I’m sure that’s not going to bother the general audience. Rey gets caught sneaking around in Kylo’s bedroom? Priceless, and some good imagery (smashing the altar to Vader) combined with incredibly clunky dialogue and some more serious questions that never get answered.

The whole time Kylo thought Vader was talking to him it was Palpatine? Why the hell does he still have that mask on a pedestal? He just couldn’t bear to get rid of a collectible? He hadn’t had time to konmari yet? And just what does smashing the pedestal symbolize? Is this the start of Kylo breaking free? We’ll probably never know.

Rey escapes on the Falcon. After getting the worst character reveal in the Saga. I’m sorry. Rey Palapatine is just dumb. I liked that she was a nobody. It allowed her to be the Forces solution to the manipulation and abuse heaped upon the Skywalkers. She was brought into the story and bound to the last scion of House Skywalker as a corrective. She wasn’t overpowered. (No really. She executed a few very basic Jedi skills in the first two movies, none of them exceptional.) And her skill level makes sense the moment you understand that she is bound to Ben Solo. She is literally downloading his training. She can do what he can do. Even her fighting style mirrors his. Fun fact: if you watch the scene in The Last Jedi where she’s practicing sword forms on Ach-to, and compare them to Kylo in his duel with Luke, they’re identical. To a move. Rey is powerful because the Force chooses its vessels. No one was asking who Mace Windu’s parents were. Or Ki-Adi Mundi’s. But Rey is skilled because a very clear in universe device means she has access to Ben Solo’s mind and that included every skill he ever learned.

Alrighty, so now our team is on to the next step in the quest, the ocean moon of Kef Bir, one of the many moons in the Endor system. (No, it’s not the Forest or Sanctuary Moon with the Ewoks.) We meet Jannah, another wasted character. She is pretty and could have been cool. But she exists for us to realize that Finn is probably Force Sensitive and that he broke conditioning not due to innate morality but because he’s not a Muggle.

Which brings me to my gripe with how Finn’s character was treated. He spent the whole movie running around shouting Rey. That’s it. That’s his arc. I don’t mind that he can feel the Force. But I feel like his development was regressed. He had a clear character arc in the first two movies. From a man running away from responsibility to one willing to fight for a friend, to a man willing to commit to cause. This movie should have had him building on that, and perhaps like Moses returning to free the rest of the Stormtroopers who are canonically child soldiers brainwashed into fighting for the bad guys.

Back to the plot. Rey takes off for the Death Star, searches the haunted house and yet again has her moment in the cave, this time confronting a dark vision of herself. Dang that was cool. Would have liked to see more of that. Anyway, she confronts Kylo and he smashes the holocron. Emphasizing for us how pointless this fetch quest has been. Girl could have hopped a ride in his TIE at any point and dealt with the fallout after they dealt with the emperor.

They fight. It wasn’t a bad fight. Just not my favorite. It did emphasize though that Kylo is never ever fighting on the offensive with her. Never in three movies has he ever taken an advantage of an opening for a killing blow, and never was it more obvious than in this fight. Kylo gets distracted, Rey stabs him mortally, and this act seems to wake her up from whatever possessed her in the throne room. She heals him and runs away.

This brings up another thing that bothers me. I know the filmmakers were working with some severe challenges with their footage of Carrie. I don’t think it was badly used for the most part. But I was left baffled at what exactly was going on here.

I was not baffled at Kylo/Ben’s confrontation with Han. This was the high point of the movie for me. It was pitch perfect in tone, and touched on the one an only sin Ben ever committed that wasn’t connected to a war objective, the murder of his father. And it made clear that the prodigal was loved and wanted and it wasn’t too late to come home. The heart of Ben’s problem has been the conviction that he has done too much wrong to come home, and while it is only a memory, it is a true memory of the man who loved Ben enough to walk straight into Hell though he knew it would probably be the death of him. I can forgive this scene for throwing the lightsaber  into the ocean. I realize that most of the audience doesn’t know that you can heal kyber crystals. Yes, the saber was a metaphor for Ben’s damaged and unstable soul, and yes, it would have been poetic (and badass) for him to show up later with a healed lightsaber, stable and blue and looking like something an angel would fight with. But I’ll forgive that for the poetry of what happens on Exegol.

And then we go to my low point. I’ll set my costumer’s beef with Luke Skywalker’s wig aside. It looked cheap and that’s all I’ll say. It was more the deliberate middle finger to TLJ in the lines while ignoring that Luke’s most iconic and Jedi-like moment in the original trilogy was casting aside his lightsaber in an act of compassion. Yes, Rey was burning her ship and throwing away her weapon for the wrong reason.  And it was a deliberate echo of Luke who also was appalled when his fear was twisted by the Dark into an attack on his nephew. She is overcome with the same shame and fear of self. Luke can speak to this in a real way. With better dialogue, it might have worked for me. Alas, it didn’t. Instead we got more exposition to provide us with an extra lightsaber. And more questions about why everyone in this family gave up on Ben Solo.

Here’s the thing. If Leia remains untrained, lots of things make sense: her instinctive but infrequent use of the Force; her fear for her son and sense of inadequacy in dealing with he struggles with darkness, her unresolved issues with her father which lead her to hide her parentage not only from the galaxy but also from her own son. All of this is undone by the training reveal and makes us wonder why everyone was willing to help a descendent of Palpatine but not their own flesh and blood. And in a movie that used dialogue to explain nearly everything, these lacunae stand out more than they would in a film that trusted the audience more. See you could have had Luke say “We messed up. We gave in to fear. And we didn’t want to make the same mistake with you. Rey. I’m the son of Darth Vader. I know more than any man that we are more than our bloodline. And forgetting that with Ben was the worst mistake of my life.” But  he didn’t. Which in a movie which tells as much as or more than it shows seems like a deliberate choice.

Have you noticed that I’m ignoring the space battles? That’s because they’re forgettable. I just didn’t care about them. Especially since the galactic conflict remained essentially unresolved. Back to the Force Plot, the only plot that matters.

Rey confronts Palpatine. Yawn. At this point I just don’t care. For most of the movie, she hasn’t seemed like my Rey. I couldn’t relate and by this point I’ve lost interest so I’m more wondering where did all these people come from. Are there concessions? How much does a hot dog and Coke cost on Exegol? Does this stadium have bathrooms? Nice to see that it’s built like the AT&T one down the street with the sliding roof panels. And then my boy Ben Solo arrives and the film is good again. Without a word of dialogue (besides “ow”) Adam Driver delivers the best performance of the movie, showing that the Han Solo of the trilogy was there the whole time in his son. Was there ever a more Han Solo thing than running into a Dark Side temple in your pajamas, armed only with a blaster? And then Rey passes him Anakin’s saber. OMG. Brilliance. The best part of the movie. For a moment I thought that they would at least wrap it up well. And for a moment they’re side by side and all is right in the world. And then Palpatine throws Ben in a pit.

I hate this. I don’t hate this movie but I hate this moment. For three movies we’ve set up that Rey and Ben (He’s Ben now; don’t’ @ me.) are equals in the Force. They have a Yin/Yang dynamic that made this work. The natural conclusion here should have been that they take out Palpatine together. Because both have a beef with him. This is the man responsible for ruining the lives of four generations of Skywalkers. And while Ben is at the bottom of a pit, Rey stands alone, calling on the Jedi to help her.

The Jedi that are ignoring the Skywalker at the bottom of the pit.

Including Ben’s grandfather that he’s been begging for years to help him.

Including his uncle who promised to always be with him. (We were robbed of Ghost Luke trolling Kylo. Robbed I tell you. Mark Hamill would have nailed that.)

Ben is at the bottom of a pit being ignored while the Jedi transform Rey into their sacrificial lamb for Girl Power points.

So, yeah, I hated how Rey defeated Palpatine. It was wrong. It wasn’t in union with her bondmate. It wasn’t through the power of love and compassion. It was Space Wonder Woman meets Harry Potter. And then she dies. Because the Jedi only ever viewed people as tools in their grand battle with the Sith.

But Ben. Oh, Ben loves Rey for who she is. And he climbs out of the pit without a lick of help from anyone and cradles her lifeless form in the most heartbreaking Pieta, and you can see on his face the moment he make his decision and gives everything of himself to bring her back. It was beautiful, and they share the most pure, the most perfect kiss.

And then he dies.

And that’s where the movie breaks me. Because he didn’t have to die. It doesn’t make sense. Why does Leia hold on until this moment? Why does Maz seem satisfied? Where did Ben go? Why does he go unmourned? Where is his Force ghost? This movie just leaves us with more questions.

And the very end kills me. Rey is on Tatooine. A dead world that holds no importance to her (or Leia, I might add). She buries the Skywalker sabers. A funeral. She sees the ghosts of Luke and Leia bless her as she takes on the Skywalker name. A name that she could have taken in a life-affirming way through marriage, but that appears as scavenged from the dead that she has surrounded herself with as she ends the movie an eternal child, side by side with a stolen droid.

It makes no sense.

But whence my nerd rage? Why do I care? Why have I devoted over 3K words to this?

Because the first two movies in this trilogy made me care about these characters.

When I first saw The Force Awakens, I connected immediately with her loneliness. Loneliness is something I get viscerally. I have always been socially awkward and had difficulty making friends. I rarely felt known or understood and I understood that deep longing to belong. When Rey was being interrogated by Kylo Ren, that was what struck me. He notices her loneliness.

And you realize that Kylo is projecting. That he is seeing in her a kindred spirit. He too is lonely, and trapped by fear into being stuck in a place that he knows in his heart of hearts is a dead world. He too is trapped by relics of the past.

So, you see, Rey and Kylo were both me. I had lived that loneliness. I had experienced profound isolation and the sense that no one truly understood me. I desperately wanted them to find their belonging and heal their wounds. And that’s certainly the story that TLJ picked up on and continued.

But there was more. I became fascinated with the question of how the son of Han and Leia fell, and I could see the possibilities in the pattern of their characters: Leia, the woman driven by duty, trying to build the New Republic to make a better galaxy for her son, and leaving her son vulnerable to predation in the process; Han, a man who had only just stopped running from responsibility, and who’s own lack of father figures left him feeling inadequate as a father. Throw in a villain who can groom and psychically abuse their son and you have the ingredients for a tragedy.

And because I identified with Leia, Ben became, in a way, an additional child. A parent’s greatest fear is that in trying to do the right thing for your child you inadvertently make things worse. Poor Leia. She needed a mother to tell her child mattered more than a bill in the Senate. That the galaxy could wait. But Palpatine killed her mother. Both her mothers, because he was as complicit in the death of Breha Organa as he was in the death of Padme Amidala Naberrie.

So when Ben Solo died, it was like losing a child. And anyone who knows me personally knows that I do not choose that phrasing lightly. And being a mother, there is always a sense of survivor’s guilt. The sense that if you had done the right thing, it wouldn’t have happened. It doesn’t matter if that isn’t the truth. It’s how it feels.

I have met so many people online who identify with Ben Solo because they were abused as children. Who like him processed their trauma in unhealthy ways. It’s not where I come from, but I have the capacity to empathize and hear the message they’re inadvertently being told: that if you do bad things because you’ve been groomed and manipulated and brainwashed, you can’t come back. Even if you turn your life around, it won’t matter. You’ll only find peace in death and you will die unremembered as punishment for your sins. And your family will replace you with someone nicer and easier to live with.

But I can hear you saying: It’s not that deep. It’s fake and in space. It’s just a story.

Well, here’s the problem:

1)    The brain does not distinguish real people from fictional characters. The part of the brain that produces serotonin and dopamine can’t distinguish fact from fiction. This is actually why art has the power to heal. The catharsis experienced in a work of art can help us process trauma because we relate to the characters in the story. But the flip side is that stories can cause genuine trauma. If we related to characters in a story and they are treated unjustly, we feel that injustice and it hurts as badly as if it were real.

2)    Ben Solo was written to be sympathetic. He is the child of beloved characters. His backstory is one filled with pain. He was failed by every family member who should have protected him. He was abused physically and mentally for years. Recently published materials exonerate him from the destruction of the Jedi temple. It was all part of a plot to push him to the Dark. All Ben ever wanted was to be loved for who he was. And that was snatched away from him.

3)    I can’t turn off my brain. I can’t stop asking questions and trying to make sense of things. I can help but see the Chekhov’s guns and the symbols and the messages, however inadvertent.

4)    It is a grand failure of a movie if it only works on a surface level and not when you start digging deeper. Every other Star Wars movie, including The Phantom Menace, rewards the person who can’t turn off their brain. This was the first one that falls apart so completely the second you start asking questions.

I wish I could like this movie. I was prepared to like it if not love it. And while I got Ben’s redemption and the Rey and Kylo romance that I wanted, I feel like I got nothing. Like they don’t matter at all.

I am planning to start new hobbies in the new year. I got some war gaming miniatures painting sets for Christmas and I’m glad I have a new special interest to pour myself into. I have enjoyed sharing my love of Star Wars trivia with my kids but it just hurts too much at the moment to spend time thinking about a franchise that has been so  badly mangled. I’m probably in the bargaining stage of grief at the moment. I wholly buy the theory that there was happy ending filmed and someone blinked in the game of chicken, leaving us the mess that we were handed.

I’m also planning to get back to writing. If even Disney can’t tell a fairy tale properly anymore, it’s time for a new batch of writers to get out there and tell the stories I want to hear. I am sick of grimdark fantasies and cynicism masquerading as sophistication. I may write a fanfic or two to fix the story in my mind, but I think that ultimately I need to be creating original works. I know that there are children eager to believe in happy endings, plenty of women who believe that Byronic heroes can be redeemed, and not a few men who will buy both if the story is well told.

[kyouminaine]

Frankly, this doesn’t even really belong on this blog, but it coincides with my decision to exclude any new plot from that reality into my portrayal. Yes, I’m talking about the Remake. Yes, I’m calling it a “reality.” Now before anyone starts hissing about me being a purist, I’m going to break down why I cannot and will not use material from the Remake (abbr. 7R) in my writing.

(Spoilers under the cut. Beware long post.)

And let me make this clear: 7R was a good game. It was not a good story.

What 7R did well was create a new system that combined SE’s past experiences from the KH series and previous FF games (I see a lot of influence from XIII). It provided a challenge --- whether good or bad is partly dependent on RNGesus favoring you or not --- and created an environment and interrelationship between characters that gave the gamer a chance to connect with the world and understand the repercussions of certain actions. It gave gamers a chance to develop feelings for certain characters that previously had no strong standing in the original. This was good. (I first played on Normal and got a decent challenge out of it during certain boss fights, particularly during endgame. Currently I’m running through Hard mode and utterly regretting my life choices, so the challenge is certainly there.)

As someone who played the original and delved into the rest of the Compilation over the years, it was enjoyable to see nods and easter eggs to those plotlines. A story I didn’t think would have any part in 7R somehow made its way in. People I thought would be skipped over were brought up. It was nice.

But here’s where it fell apart: all these nods and the expansion of the world (yes, we’re only experiencing Midgar, but I’ll still label it as a “world” since that is the extent that the gamers are exposed to) were haphazardly applied to the main plot, and not only that, when it came down to the endgame all those little nuggets ultimately didn’t mean anything.

Why? Because of the new plotline that was introduced. It’s been speculated and the general consensus is that 7R is a different reality. You can call it a sequel, AU, whatever. It’s a different plot altogether, particularly with how the ending unfolded. The Whispers / Watchers of Fate / Arbiters of Fate are what everyone has summed as being a physical manifestation of what fans expected to happen, or what the creators tried to preserve over the years through the many works that elaborated on the original VII storyline. Because the characters in 7R have destroyed the Whispers, this essentially has ripped apart the expectations that old (and new) fans had for the Remake series. We don’t know how many installments there are for 7R, but it’s pretty clear from the ending line that there’s going to be another part. (Hell, you still have to fight Sephiroth again... or something. Or maybe he becomes your ally. Who knows...)

Which makes a lot of mental gears grind, heads tilt, and plenty of frustrated fans raise their voices. The Deus Ex Machina concept is nothing new. A “do-over” plotline is not unique either. (Doubt me? Go look at all the fanfics that have been circling the internet since the day the original game came out.) Taking the original VII plotline and conjoining it with a “do-over” plotline is... well, it’s bad.

There are ways to make something like that work. Ways to rewrite history and attempt to make it right. There are people who speculate that 7R considers the original VII as the “bad ending” --- as if this is a dating sim and you picked the option where Lover C decides to murder you instead of marry you, so now you wipe your save file and change all of your choices so you get the happy ending with Lover C. The major plot events are the same, but now you’re alive and Lover C never goes apeshit on you.

I can understand the desire to get a “good ending.” This just isn’t the smartest way to go about it.

So with that in mind, we are now on that separate save file trying to make all the “right” choices. No one knows what will come of it, no one knows if it even is a “good” ending that awaits us. So what does that mean?

Quite plainly, it means everything we knew, every relationship that was built upon in the original, even all the work that was put into the other games and that particular reality, are all dumped in the trash. 7R is an AU scum save game file that tosses out the original values and lore that were taught to us and the characters too. In an ugly way of explaining it, 7R is spitting in the face of all the other pieces of the Compilation and what lessons came out of them.

These are lessons of the value of life, the value of relationships, the gravity of truth and the price of lies, struggling with flaws and shortcomings, change, love, and personal growth. These aren’t new or unfamiliar tropes, but their weight of worth still remains. (I won’t call VII to be the greatest game in existence, but it did create a strong connection with its audience through the story it told.)

What 7R does in face of these lessons is push them all aside for what is basically fanservice. Wish fulfillment. People who are dead in the original may/may not be alive in 7R. People who are alive in 7R are supposed to be dead in the original. 7R’s reality robs the audience of a chance to experience those values and struggles in a new yet familiar way. Fans who have no idea what happened in the original or only have a vague grasp of the plot will not have the same connection that old fans do. Yes, new fans can still understand that Aerith’s death was supposed to be a sad event. Yes, Sephiroth is a meteor summoning cockroach. (He has a bad habit of resurrecting.) However, they don’t have the firsthand experience. They did not personally go through the journey.

There are heavy hints of it in 7R, but the experience isn’t the same. And now considering that the Whispers are defeated, there probably isn’t even a reason to go through the original content anymore. Just open up a wikia and get the most basic summary, because what lays before us in the 7R series is uncharted territory.

The story of Cloud’s past and who Zack is will most likely still be introduced and explained, but how? Will it still hold the same meaning? Will fans be able to experience the same joy and pain, not knowing how big of an impact Zack had on the story particularly on Cloud’s, Aerith’s, and even Tifa’s lives? They made a whole game with him as the main protagonist; that was how big of an impact he made on those around him, and how much fans thought he deserved more screen time than what was given in the original VII.

Though the ending cutscenes of 7R implied that Zack may still be dead and his survival is probably in a completely different reality outside of both VII and 7R, the idea that it is possible for him to live takes away the meaning behind his death. It takes away how he made such an impact on those he met. Is it sad to always have him die? Certainly. But that’s the point. You, the gamer, and those in the game itself feel the weight of his presence and his loss. Him living diminishes it. Perhaps not completely, but it does stick a knife in the tapestry that wove together this important and surprisingly strong bond between even the most minor of characters.

The same can be said about Aerith’s death. I do enjoy that in 7R Cloud and Aerith got to interact and you could see more of how their personalities played off each other; I enjoyed Aerith’s portrayal in 7R. Yet, with the speculation of her possibly surviving and maybe being omnipotent (or dimension hopping, take your pick), we don’t see how strong of an impact she made on those around her. We don’t see how her death changed the cast, became a driving point of their mission. Particularly for Cloud, she became a pivotal part of his growth. Regardless if you consider their relationship to be friendship or love, it’s undeniable that she made a strong impression and her death hit Cloud like a sack of bricks to the face. The value of her life was so great in his heart, she became one of the major reasons he was so hell bent on fighting Sephiroth. She wasn’t the only reason, but she certainly was fighting to be at the top of the list. Even in the sequels that followed, she was always on their minds. She taught a priceless lesson that still sticks with gamers today. People still weep over her death.

So let me bring it up again: 7R spits at VII. Not just in the lessons it brought, but the lore as well. The introduction of Whispers, Aerith’s unexplained new powers, Sephiroth’s early appearance and his ability to cut through the veil of reality... It all brings about the question of Gaia and how she works as both a habitable place and sentient entity. Gaia had WEAPON --- colossal creatures that were meant to safeguard the planet. When Gaia perceives herself to be in danger, she brings out the giant no-no stick. (This is mainly in response to the threat of Jenova, but it is plausible that WEAPON will tear apart every major threat and hit the big reset button on everything. Otherwise, why did Ultimate attack Mideel? There’s no Jenova there, unless you count Cloud. But that’s a different topic for a different day.)

There is speculation that the Whispers that meld into the Harbinger of Fate / Whisper Harbinger is another WEAPON. This is a theory to take with a fat grain of salt, but the point is this: what did the Whispers uphold, and how does that alter the rest of the lore of the game? Do we consider the Whispers to be beings completely exempt from the rest of the lore? Are they some kind of god? Are they related or unrelated to WEAPON, and do they have their own agenda or do they also work to safeguard Gaia? No one knows, and there are a bunch of videos that try to tackle these questions.

I don’t have the answer. What I do have is a major side-eye at the whole concept of the Whispers existing and how they interact across the different realities, and how in turn they alter the overall lore of VII. Vague telling of the main plot points from the original are present, yet there is a giant question mark as to how much of said plot points will remain present in future game(s). Is there even a need for WEAPON anymore? Is Aerith not the last living Ancient/Cetra? Is Sephiroth blood kin to her? (Anyone remember that old concept?)

What about Holy? The lifestream? Hell, you can create summon materia now, not find godly creatures slumbering inside giant marbles scattered throughout the planet. Can Meteor be created too, or is it still hidden in the Temple of the Ancients and deemed too dangerous and the magic too great for anyone to handle? Do I even want to touch the subjects of Project G and Deepground??

That’s too many questions that don’t need to exist in the first place. What 7R created was a large stew of wtfery. I don’t just say this out of saltiness, it really is a giant “wtf” where almost every fan doesn’t even know where to start when they try to deeply analyze what happened in the game.

Personally, I believe the “do-over” plot that was introduced in 7R was a mistake. Not only did it mess with the lore of the world and open up a rotten can of worms that no one knows how to decipher, it took away from the value of certain actions from different characters, whether main cast or secondary. (I feel cheated. Tifa’s tears were practically wasted because Biggs is apparently alive, Jessie is probably just comatose somewhere, and Wedge probably survived too despite being tossed out a skyscraper.)

What I expected, and I believe what many frustrated fans expected, was not a “do-over” plotline/reality but a retelling of the same familiar story we have come to love over the last few decades. Whether some fans picked it up as soon as it was first published on 3 discs, or played it later down the line on PC, or even waited until it got ported to PS4, we came to enjoy that original plot. The original reality that has been told and retold, and adored even across different games with cameo appearances from the main cast. Flesh out the world, make it bigger, make it grander, show me Cloud in a fugly purple dress and Tifa in a miniskirt, show me Sephiroth’s Vidal Sassoon flowing silver locks, show me Jenova’s eye nipple... but keep the rest the same. By all means incorporate plotline from the other installments of the Compilation --- tell me more about the Turks, the original/main faction of AVALANCHE, Rufus and his relationship with his dad, other perverted projects Shinra had hiding under its mako skirt, the full story behind the failed rocket launch, the Wutai war, Nanaki’s youth, Zack’s early years in Shinra/SOLDIER, all that --- but don’t suddenly throw all that work, all those relationships and stories, all those valuable lessons out the window.

7R had plenty of potential and even if I take away the “purist” expectations I wanted from it, the game still managed to be disappointing.

Coming back to the topic of why I won’t use 7R in my portrayal, it is because of all this. Because it takes away too much from VII and warps it into something it shouldn’t be. My idea of Cloud sits strongly with the Compilation (namely the original game with some minor inspiration from the other materials). His hardships, his pain, his personal growth... I will hold onto those because they make Cloud who he is at the end of the game. They are why Cloud leaves such an impression on people. Yes, recent adjustments to his features have really ramped up how handsome he is (especially in 7R, though I’m salty about his hair being wrong) and that sticks with people. Everyone swoons over how he looks in that crisp HD. It’s his journey that is more worthy of noting though.

I expect that there will be people who are not/less bothered by these details. There are plenty of people who embrace 7R and what it introduces --- I’ve heard people say they’re tired of the same old formula and a “do-over” plot is fresh and exciting for them --- but I’ll stick to what I’ve come to learn to love throughout my life. Because there are plenty of people who favor 7R, the door is open for people to head that way. This isn’t me kicking anyone out. This is me firmly establishing where I stand and why.

TL;DR --- 7R is a high dollar AU fanfic and I don’t appreciate that. (But I’ll still snag icons and reblog gifsets of the cutscenes because I’m opportunistic that way.)

[stupidspaceseven]

A Memori Fic Rec

Hi Friends! In the spirit of celebrating memori engagement week I’ve decided to celebrate some of my favorite fics! Under the cut are a range of fics in different genres and ratings, divided between canon fics and AUs. It’s long but by no means exhaustive. All these fics are completed ;) Happy reading!

Canon Compliant Fics

How All This, And Love Too, Will Ruin Us by biextroverts

Rating: T, One-shot; Genre: Found Family/Angst

Emori finds a family and loses a lover on the Ring.

A great Ring fic that covers the six years in space. I’ve only read it once because it made me That Sad, which is really a testament to how well writting and IC it is, so if you’re a sucker for angst and raven&emori friendship definitely give this a read. 

The Lotus Eaters by maelidify: @maelidpoetree​

Rating: M (no smut), One shot; Genre: Fluff, Character Study

“I don’t like this place, John,” she said. “We’re not safe here.”

Am I partial to this fic because it was a gift to me? Yes, but I firmly believe that more people need to read it and that the author deserves more recognition in general! This pre 4.08 science island fic is sweet and romantic but explores inner conflicts of nature in such a beautiful way (with some awesome anecdotes and metaphors). All her writing is beautiful and poetic and it’s worth your while to go through her memori tag to find/read the stuff she hasn’t posted on AO3.

Cataclysmic by maelidify; @maelidpoetree​

Rating: E (by author request don’t read if you’re not 18+) One-shot, Genre: Angst

She’s looking up at him, half angry, half looking for permission for something. For what—?

Oh.

More breakup angst!! This remains the best Murphy POV I’ve read, it’s messy and angry and sad and the fic tears me up a little every time. I’d even recommend this to people who don’t like/read smut because, while present, it’s tasteful and really this fic is about all the emotions. If the two fics in a row haven’t clued you in just read everything Liz writes, because I don’t have space to talk about all her fics but they are all worth your time!!

First Impressions by interlude; @bombshellsandbluebells

Rating: T, One-shot; Genre: Drama

John Murphy comes back to Arkadia with an unfamiliar grounder woman. The Arkadians and former delinquents react.

(Or: Memori seen from different points of view. Takes places between 4x03 and 4x04.)

Personally I’m a big sucker for outsider POV fics, and the author does a great job with keeping all those outsiders in character and addressing their most pressing motivations while keeping memori in the spotlight of the fic. The story has all the urgency present in s4 and fills in some of the gaps nicely!

The Wild by Debate; @stupidspaceseven

Rated: M, Multichapter; Genre: Fluff

When Emori points up at the sky, it’s with a pointer finger twice the width of his own. He locks away the knowledge that she trusts him deep inside his chest.

[Post Wanheda 2, detailing Murphy and Emori's early season 3 adventures as they grow to mean the world to each other.]

This one is a shameless self-promotion, but I’m recommending it because I think it’s really good!! Fun shenanigans, theft, first kisses, angsty backstory reveals, smut, this fic basically has the works, and I’m like, 98% sure it’s the longest memori canon complaint fic out there. (I have a host of other memori fics, canon compliant and otherwise if you want to check those out too, but this one’s my personal favorite).

Canon Divergent AUs

Her What If List by the_most_beautiful_broom; @the-most-beautiful-broom​

Rating: G, One-shot; Genre: Meet Cute/Ugly

Memori Appreciation Week: Day One: Canon Divergence

Emori and Otan's latest robbery goes awry when the mark ends up being very much awake, but all's well that end's well, and an unexpected connection is made in the middle of the desert.

And she wonders if his eyes weren’t just sad, that they were just asleep. Because maybe it’s the fire, or the fading adrenaline, but now Emori can swear his eyes are sparkling. Which is a stupid thing to think. She’s in the middle of the dead zone, with a gun that isn’t a gun, and a man who could be conning her just like she’s trying to con him.

A really imaginative AU with Grounder!Murphy. This puts our characters in a familiar situation but makes it new and unique. Emori’s POV is both critical and vulnerable and the memori banter is amazing!

home is what the heart protects by emperor_bell

Rating: G, One-shot; Genre: Family/Friendship

"John Murphy had lived a hundred lifetimes in his year on the ground and yet still, somehow, after a year of living in space again, nineteen year old John Murphy hears the word “dad” and his first thought is 'I’m too young.'"

I'm obsessed with the thought of Emori having a baby in space, and I set out to write Memori parents. Instead I wrote 2k words of John Murphy feelings. Enjoy.

More messy feelings! The dialogue here and what characters (mostly Murphy) do versus what they think and say is really interesting and makes for an engaging read. Plus a look at how complicated memori as parents would be and a super angsty sequel if that’s the kind of thing you’re into!

Taking A Village by Zaffie

Rated: M, Multichapter; Genre: Found Family/Survival

Once they get it all sorted, the technical aspect of living on the Ring turns out to be the easy part. It's the rest which is hard. Everyone's got their personal demons to face - except when you're seven people trapped together for five-plus years, "personal" is easier said than done.

This one is much less memori-centric than spacekru-centric, but it’s probably my favorite Ring fic, and the AU aspects just make it better. Both Murphy and Emori are incredibly in character and their chapter is beautiful and sad. If you happen to also be a big Spacekru or Raven fan this fic is a must. Also there’s a great sequel in the works!

I know the sound of your heart by dylanobrienisbatman; @dylanobrienisbatman

Rating: G, One-shot; Genre: Fluff

Bellamy fought hard, and got them the 80 acres on the edge of the valley. They built a house, big enough for all of them, they had a farm, they were happy and safe. Emori should be happy, she should feel like it was enough, but it wasn't. She and John were still apart, and their history made her scared to try.

But as time went on, she watched as John became part of the group. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the longer she waited, the more it seemed like he was really better.

Was it time to give him another chance?

The soft spacekru feels in this one are almost as great as the memori ones which feature reconciliation and addressing their s5 issues in a healthy way. The lead up to them getting back together is as good the second go around as in the first.

eat, drink, and be merry by flowermasters

Rating: G, One-shot; Genre: Fluff

Murphy and Emori do what they can to improve morale.

So this is the wedding fic that everybody needs in these hours. There’s a healthy dose of spacekru to make it all the ore sweeter and Murphy and Emori are adorably in love while trying to maintain their aloof and uncaring reputations. This fic did so much to heal my soul while in the depth of the s5 angst. 

In This Valley by Kats_watermelon; @katswatermelon​

Rating: T, One-shot; Genre: Angst/Fluff/Kidfic

written for day 1 of memori week, prompt: canon divergence 

This is mostly a really fun spec fic if God Complex went worse and Murphy and Emori got six years alone on Earth. There are big shifts in tone from the start to the end of the fic, but they feel earned and memori have a cure kid in addition to Madi and you get to see them square up with Diyoza asap. Something for everyone!

Life After the Mountain by Ghelik; @ghelikblack 

Rating: T, Series of One-shots; Genre: Hurt/Comfort

The Mountain falls and the grounders keep their distance, because the Sky-People are soldiers that have earned their respect and the lands of the Mountain that they have conquered. Which is good, because skaikru might need a break.

Series of one-shots in an AU where season 3 kind of didn't happen, but elements of it might be borrowed from.

This one is a little different because it’s a series of one shots and not all of them deal with memori but the fair majority of them do, and it’s a great what-if of how Murphy and Emori learn to function in society in a (sort of) kinder world. There’s lots of angst and vulnerability and feelings of inadequacy as well as fluff and healing. The fics span genres so there’s probably something for everybody!

Burn brighter than we ever have before by Zoadgo; @jonnmurphy

Rating: G, One-shot; Genre: Drama

Murphy flees an unknown threat in the Promised Land, running right back to the desert that almost killed him the first time he crossed it. It seems intent on fixing its past failures, and Murphy isn't strong enough to fight it on his own, this time. But someone from his past offers him a chance to survive, and even to prosper in the Dead Zone. That is, if he can bring himself to trust someone who has already betrayed him once.

Another great Murphy POV with additional cool (or hot, rather) desert descriptions and personal conflict. It’s a cool what-if and explores how things could have gone down if t100 didn’t go full scifi. Most of all Murphy and Emori’s understandings of each other/immediate connection shine through. 

Show Them the Mercy They Won’t Find on Earth by berxnica

Rating: NA (no smut), One-shot; Genre: Drama

she just showed up swollen and scared, eyes so impossibly big that they left no room for a smile. she pulled murphy aside and removed the blanket that she previously was clutching to her stomach. and there it was, her stomach, swollen and full and round with the promise of life.

Another memori becoming parents fic, but in a different era. The character understanding shines through in the prose here. Our faves are suspicious and afraid and angry while still being soft with one another. If kidfic is your thing at all it’s def worth your time!

Earth Skills: Reap What You Sow by BeaRyan

Rating: E, Multichapter; Genre: Crack/Smut

That week everyone got high on mutant corn and John Murphy realized juvenile prison might not have taught him everything he needed to know about how to please a woman. Canon adjacent.

This is a Memori story from John Murphy's snark-tastic POV and as such contains minor whomp of everyone. Complete.

This story contains a multitude of side pairings, but it is really good for a laugh, and despite being cracky Murphy and Emori’s feelings are very real and present and sweet. A grand ‘ole fic.  

AUs

Litany by infernalandmortal; @infernalandmortal

Rating: T, Mulichapter; Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort

After leaving an abusive relationship, Murphy moves into his best friend's house. He's fine, really. Their new roommate comes with more than enough baggage of her own.

(A Memori college AU)

If you read memori fic chances are you’ve read this, but it’s definitely worth reiterating! Great writing really brings forth raw emotions from both Murphy and Emori’s POVs and a lot of reading this fic is like getting sucker punched in the best way. There’s also a nice side helping of found family feels, and you get it all in Amanda’s lovely prose (her setting descriptions? kill me) truly a must read.

Little Beast by infernalandmortal: @infernalandmortal

Rating: T, Multichapter

Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort

John meets her eyes from across the room. What are you running from? his eyes ask.

Nothing, she blinks back. Everything.

“Will I see you again?” His eyes are trying not to be earnest. They are a strange shade of blue-green in the flickering yellow street light outside her house. They are uncomfortably difficult to read.

“Maybe.” It’s all she can give. She’s supposed to fear boys like this. “I’d like to.”

(A Memori-centric small-town AU. Title and opening excerpts from Little Beast by Richard Siken.)

Less angsty than Litany, but no less emotional, this fic is *chef’s kiss*. The fic features Murphy and Emori growing together and becoming family with one another while trying to manage their pasts. The growth the characters have through the fic is amazing and the ending make me feel all kinds of Soft. There are also bonus drabbles in the same ‘verse. And after you read those you might as well read everything else by this author because her stories are numerous and amazing. 

Don’t be surprised if I love you (for all that you are) by not_a_total_basket_case; @raven-reyes-of-sunshine​

Rating: G, One-shot

Genre: Fluff

Emori doens't want to find her soulmate, she wants to make that choice herself.

Who doesn’t like a good soulmate AU? The mechanics of soulmates in this AU are really unique and structured in a way to make the payoff at the end all the better. It’s a great friends to lovers story, and the supporting cast is lovely too, this fic make you feel all warm inside. 

Tired of Yourself and All of Your Creations by Chash

Rating: T, One-shot

Genre: Fluff/Drama

Murphy didn't ask to be successful and relatively wealthy and friends with people in good standing in society. It just sort of happened, and now there are all these families who apparently think he'd be a good match for their daughters. Being a respectable member of society is a pain, really.

I certainly didn’t know I needed a memori Regancy!AU until I read this, but the characterizations were picture perfect and the plot quick and smart without getting pulled down by the type of dialogue common in regency writing. A very fun AU!

Quiet Thought Come Floating Down and Settle by LayALioness

Rating: T, One-shot; Genre: Drama/Fluff

When Murphy meets the girl, it’s not under the best circumstances.

A great example of canon transferred to modern AU well with prickly Murphy and mysterious Emori. The story is fast paced and all of Murphy’s inner musings and snark are highly amusing. 

traitors never win by Kats_watermelon; @katswatermelon​

Rating: T, Multichapter; Genre: Crime/Drama

Murphy's been kicked out of his crew. Emori's been alone for a while now. They both have a knack for robbery and dreams bigger than their pasts, and they're willing to steal from anyone and everyone to prove it.

If you like the high drama this is for you, a very edge of your seat read with a great payoff at the end. Lovely dialogue as well and a combo of both Murphy’s and Emori’s POVs.

Golden by frikdreina;

Rating: E, One-shot; Genre: Smut/Fluff

It was their two years anniversary and Emori had planned this for weeks. Murphy would be at her place after seven and Emori skipped her last period so she could get everything done before he got there. Her heart was pounding as she unlocked the door to her apartment, the thrill of anticipation taking over her. It was like if electricity was running through her veins and she couldn’t get enough of it, with her mind drifting to the way he kissed her and how his touch had always felt right on her skin.

If you’re just looking for some hot and sweet memori smut this is the fic for you! Doesn’t get into anything too kinky and remains intimate throughout with great descriptions. 

she’s the tear in my heart by flowermasters

Rating: M, One-shot; Genre: Fluff/Drama

Murphy is in love with the girl he's sleeping with, and is incredibly bad at handling it.

Oh man This Fic. The banter is amazing and full of little call backs and tie ins, the descriptions speak to Murphy and Emori so well and transfer to a modern AU so easily. The fic is lovely and if you want something where Murphy and Emori are just dumb about their feelings than this is for you. Another author to keep your eye on if you like memori (or becho) fics. 

[yeastofeden]

Hello! Your Traitor Uraraka theory was an amazing read! I want to dive into the world of character/story/literary analysis too, but I dont know where or how to start... Any advice/tips you could share?

Thanks so much! I’m honestly flattered you would ask… I’m ahobby writer so a lot of what I know about analysis is what I learnedin grade school, on my own, or adapted from what I know about artcriticism & analysis….. Since you’re not sure on the start,I’ll just talk about all the core things I feel helped me getinterested in this.

Read If I had torecommend anything specificfor reading, I’d say lookinto classic literature – not because its “critically acclaimed,”but because a lot of the time classic literature has been analyzed byprofessionals in their fields, so it can be a nice way to see howother people handle character interpretation, storytelling, worldbuilding, and so on. I liked Shakespeare a lot, and you probablywouldn’t be surprised to hear that people analyze the shit out ofShakespeare. I probably picked up the most of my understanding ofcharacter analysis from indulging in Shakespeare alone.

Don’t like Shakespeare? I’d say look into stories that are just over 50 years old; Lord ofthe Rings, Catcher in the Rye, Pride & Prejudice, Lord of theFlies…. So long as you can find actual scholars analyzing it,you’re golden. Read things you enjoy; if you like anime and only care about that…maybe check out textbooks on classic anime.

Alongwith looking up how others analyze, start being critical with all themedia you consume. Movies are a great way to do this because it’sshort format and easyconcumption. You can stayfocused on critical thinking for a couple of hours while enjoyingsomething–I also think movie reviews are a good way to experiencecritical analysis. And don’t just watch good movies… watch badones too, and figure out why they’re bad.

WriteActuallywrite. Take all the interesting things you learned and apply it tosomething. Don’t just think about it; the tragedy about onlythinking is that nothing really solidifies like it does once youfinally put it out there. Talkto friends about it if you can drag them into aconversation;a lot of my analysis started out because I was talking with otherpeople. If you don’t have anyone to talk to about a series or don’twant to bother people with your miscellaneous thoughts, get a sidetumblr or a dreamwidth and just write things there to get themdown–ifyou’reshy, just don’t tag things.Tbh, sometimes I just write things out and then delete them when I’mfinished just so I can get the thought out of me. Writing is just apowerful tool tohelp organize thoughts into cohesive opinions.

Butdon’t just write thoughts only… build on them. Write your owncharacters and stories just for fun. Write fanfiction. WriteAlternate Universes. Really just explore your own taste in fictionand the kind of things you yourself want to see. If there’s onevery easy thing I could suggest… take your favourite characters orship and slap them into story that already exists. I wrote one of myOTPs a few years ago into HasChristian Andersen’s theLittle Mermaid,andit was interesting andfuntrying to suit different characters into the roles of the story.

Writingand reading as a combination are just good things for you; they helpbuild competency with literature and language, andby just indulging in the two of these while remaining critical canjust naturally better your ability to read deeper into things.

ResearchAlongwith the earlier mentioned analyses that you should look into, it’sworth it to look into like extra resources. Check out interviews withyour favourite authors; look at like Ted Talks about creativity andwriting; read into tropes and motifs; find creative people you likeand follow their work and look for trends; lookinto writing concepts and themes.Storiesare just made up of patterns and once you start finding the patterns,you can start exploiting them. A Hero’s Journey is one of the mostfundamental patterns we can follow in storytelling, and with someabstract thinking we can start to predict the events that will occurin a story. A lot of my theory is built up on observing patterns.

IfI could point you toward one single video, it’s Kirby Ferguson’sTED talk “Embrace the Remix.” It talks about the idea thatnothing is original and all things are just remixed versions of eachother. This is part of why tropes exist;  you could go look attvtropes.org and hit random and start learning about these patternsright now. Granted, I don’t recommend using tropes as a foundationof an argument, but knowing tropes can help you connect the dotsbetween series.

IfI had to suggest any non-literary research that’s worth lookinginto….Check out psychology, art, and/or culture. Psychology is just morepatterns, I use Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs when I write andobserve survival horror. Art is another way to tell a story and isespecially useful when observing visual media. Culture can help youunderstand why people write the way they do, becausethere is a difference between Eastern and Western media andstorytelling trends.

“Personality sections”Alittle back story on me: pretty much all of thereading/writing/researching I do thesedaysis because I do a lot of text-based roleplay on Dreamwidth. I’vebeen doing this for about8 years.Overthe years, I’ve written out easilyover 30 “personality sections,” which are basically 500-2kcharacter summaries–for characters like Sakura from Naruto, Makotofrom Free, Jake English from Homestuck, and so many others–as apart of a way to “prove” that I understand the character I’mroleplaying whenjoining organized groups.I’ve also read literallyhundredsof these personality sections because I joined vetting teams forsaid organized groups, and have written many rejectionresponses to help people understand where they can improve.A lot of people I know hate writingthese personality sections… but I love them.

Youcould join RP and get a feel for it thesame wayI did, but that might not be your thing. But the process of writingthese “personality sections” wasbroken down to a science byroleplayers,and can be seen as a base form of character analysis. Wetalkedabout a character’s personality, what shaped them to be that way,and sometimes how that affected them in the future of their story.When I led a vetting team, these were the requirements I set:

Mustbe at least three paragraphs long for minor characters, fiveparagraphs long for main characters. Players should be able to conveya good understanding of their characters, but just describing apersonality isn’t enough. Make sure that when you explain aparticular attitude that you back yourself up with some canon proof,otherwise mods have to wonder where you are getting this informationregardless of our knowledge of canon. Be sure to explain clearly andconcisely, organizing your paragraphs so related subjects aretogether. Avoid explaining the personality in such a way that itreads like a history section - generally this is determined byunnecessary use of chronological order.

Andthese are the same guidelines I hold myself to when I work on my ownpersonality sections. Some people have broken down personalitysections in such a way that they are formatted “three positivetraits, three negative traits” withsome variance.Some like to talk about important relationships aswell.I always defend that personality should be backed up with actualcanon evidence. “Uraraka is kind,” I could say, but I should backit up with an instance where she showed kindness, such as when shesaved Midoriya from tripping when they first meet.

TheorizingIfI’m honest, I don’t much like theorizing. I like to read theoriesand I like to think about things, but I’m not actually partial totrying to predict the future of a series because I feel likeserialized stories are too choppy to be worth my time, and there’snot much sense trying to predict the future of a story that’sfinished. I’m more inclined toward theorizing about the past, orwhat’s already happened but wasn’t explained.

Mydisinterest in theorizing kind of shows….I’ve only written twotheories for Tumblr–Urarakais the Traitor (My Hero Academia), and Both Shiros are the Clone(Voltron). I think I ended up being right about the second one butI’m not sure where the interview isthatproves it, justthat it was SDCC stuff.Thereason I’ve written any theories at all is because I personally wasmotivated by frustration–I didn’t know why people weren’ttalking about these things. SoI made a post to try to get people to talk. BeforeI posted my theory, no one would have looked twice at Uraraka andthat drove me nuts.Now I’ve made a following strong enough that Uraraka seems to beone of the highest contenders in terms of just… gossip. Which,thanks guys. I’m floored.

So…. Myadvice would be to pick a subject you think should be talked aboutand go for it. Do the research. Canon-review. Takenotes. Search for patterns outside what you’re trying to analyze.Writeand rewrite and rewrite again, becauseanalyzing is basically high school but fun.

And…lastly…. Prepare to be wrong. You have a different sense ofstorytelling than anyone else. I have been bitten right in the assbecause I viewed and loved many-a character because I saw them theway I wanted to, and the author clearly did not share my views.And people might not like your theory; people might super hate iteven, and that’s not such a big deal. In the end it’s just fiction and we’re all just here to enjoy a story we love.

I…know that’s a lot, but Ihope it was at least helpful information! Ithink in the end the most important part is just to be critical andremain open-minded. Never stop learning. Choose your battles. Write about what you love.And don’t worry so much about being wrong. 

[mikegranich87]

Surface Laptop Studio and Pro 8 hands-on: Fresh designs with 120Hz screens

At its annual hardware event today, Microsoft unveiled a new family of Surface devices ahead of Windows 11’s launch on October 5th. Refreshes of the Surface Pro and Surface Go aren’t surprising, and the company did show off the latest in both of those series. But the Surface Laptop Studio is the most intriguing. It’s meant to replace the Surface Book, which was a detachable 2-in-1 laptop. The Laptop Studio, meanwhile, is more like Microsoft’s Surface Studio all-in-one desktop, in that it features a pull-forward screen that can lay flat on top of a table or be propped up at a slant. It also has a 120Hz display, as does the new Surface Pro 8, which got a sleek redesign.

I was able to check out the Laptop Studio, Surface Pro X and a slew of new Surface devices at a recent (COVID-safe) demo event in New York and I have to say, these Windows 11 PCs are looking very promising.

Surface Laptop Studio hands-on

Let’s start with the Laptop Studio, which a Microsoft rep told me at the event will replace the Surface Book line. Like I mentioned, its new easel-style design is similar not only to its namesake Surface Studio, but also to notebooks from Acer and HP. I was very impressed with how thin the Laptop Studio’s 14.4-inch screen is, and it popped out of its frame without much force. The hinge connecting the display to the keyboard is sturdy, and kept the screen up at a variety of angles in laptop mode.

When I flipped the screen to face outwards, though, I had trouble trying to push the lid away from me to get it to stand at a gentler angle as the panel popped out of the frame. But in every other configuration, such as a conventional laptop mode or laid down flat like a tablet (which Microsoft calls Studio mode), the Surface Laptop Studio behaved as expected.

When the screen is pulled forward and propped up in front of the keyboard in what the company calls Stage mode, it’s great for digital artists. It’s easier to draw on, and you can use the new Slim Pen 2 to create your masterpieces. The new stylus offers haptic feedback with an onboard motor and also mimics the resistance you’d get with pen on paper. I did feel a sort of drag across the Laptop Studio’s screen when I started doodling on it with the Slim Pen 2. It felt odd at first, as I’m accustomed to other styli like Samsung’s S Pen. But I got used to it quite quickly, and kind of liked feeling the mild vibrations that served as an indicator that something had been enabled.

The Laptop Studio has a magnetic strip under the keyboard that lets the Slim Pen 2 attach easily and remain flush with the rest of the machine. The magnets were strong enough that I only had to roughly place the stylus along the edge and it flipped into place. I don’t feel like I’d need to worry about losing the accessory with this setup, which is nice.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Microsoft also offers a 120Hz screen on the Laptop Studio, and a company representative told me at the demo that the touch sampling rate is 100Hz. This should make for a smooth drawing experience, but also make scrolling and animations look super buttery. There’s no adaptive refresh rate available in the system — you’ll just get the option to choose between 120Hz or 60Hz in settings.

For all the detailed specs on the Laptop Studio, like its new Full HD webcam, its screen resolution, dimensions, processor and memory configuration options, I encourage you to check out our news post. For this hands-on article, I’d like to focus on my initial impressions of the devices I got to try out. On that note, the last thing I’ll say about my experience with the Laptop Studio is that its keyboard and trackpad were spacious, and though its buttons were cushy and responsive, I prefer the keys on the Surface Laptop 4. For things like battery life, performance and other real-world observations, though, we’ll need to wait till we can test out a review unit.

Surface Pro 8 hands-on

Another device that got a visual overhaul this year is the Surface Pro 8. It’s not the only new Surface Pro unveiled today — there’s also the Surface Pro 7 Plus, which received a typical minor processor upgrade and looks very similar to older Microsoft tablets. The Pro 8, meanwhile, looks a lot like the ARM-based Pro X. But it uses 11th-gen Intel Core i5 or i7 chips and is therefore noticeably heavier. It also has a different ventilation design around its sides compared to the X, which was sealed.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Still, the Pro 8 is impressively thin, with a 0.37-inch profile, and its built-in kickstand is even sharper. Its 13-inch screen is surrounded by an attractively thin bezel as opposed to the approximately inch-wide border around the Pro 7 Plus. The Pro 8 also features the same 120Hz refresh rate as the Laptop Studio, running at a 2,880 x 1,920 resolution.

Out of the box, though, the Pro 8 runs at 60Hz, and you can go into settings to bump this up to the higher rate. Meanwhile, the Laptop Studio refreshes at 120Hz by default. This difference is because the Pro 8 is designed to be a more portable device, and Microsoft expects people to want more battery life on the go. If your priority is smooth scrolling and inking (Slim Pen 2 is also supported here), then by all means go faster. But if you’re trying to squeeze every last minute out of the Pro 8, you might prefer to stick to the lower rate.

When you’re out of juice, you can charge the Pro 8 back up with Microsoft’s own connector or through one of the pair of USB-C ports. These support USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4, and can stream out up to two 4K displays at once. We weren’t able to test this during the limited time at our preview, and I can only really tell you that in general the Surface Pro 8 felt very much like a heavier Pro X. They use the same Signature Type Cover with the same comfortable keys and responsive trackpad, as well as onboard slot that holds and charges the Slim Pen 2.

Of all the other Surfaces Microsoft announced today — the Go 3, the new Pro X, the Pro 7 Plus and the Duo 2, only the last one is different in a significant way. The rest of the systems basically got incremental updates while maintaining a similar look to their predecessors. 

Surface Adaptive Kit

I did want to call out the new Surface Adaptive Kit, though. It’s a set of labels and stickers that are designed to make Surfaces easier for people with different needs to use. There are translucent keycap labels to make buttons identifiable by touch, bump labels that add visual and tactile cues to keys or ports, as well as colorful indicators with matching cable wraps to make it more obvious which wires go into which sockets. 

The colors I saw at the demo area were neon peach hued and I’m not sure if they’ll be appreciated by people with certain visual impairments (a pattern might be better for those who can’t distinguish between colors). But at least the keycap labels I saw came in different shapes and overall I appreciate the effort here.

Microsoft led the way for accessibility tech in gaming with the Xbox Adaptive Controller years ago and though the Surface Adaptive Kit seems like a small product, it shows that the company is thinking in meaningful ways how to cater to people with different needs.

Though most of the new Surfaces that were unveiled today feel like incremental updates, the Laptop Studio, Duo 2 and Pro 8 at least bring a low-key level of excitement. Plus, these machines (Duo 2 aside) will all run Windows 11, which is already bringing new life to a stagnating PC industry. As always, we’ll need to test all these devices out for ourselves to see if they’re worth spending your money on, but you can already pre-order all of them today.

Follow all of the news from Microsoft's fall Surface event right here.

from Mike Granich https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-surface-laptop-studio-hands-on-surface-pro-8-pro-x-go-3-adaptive-kit-price-specs-160005455.html?src=rss

[sushifrost31-blog]

Timber Home Window Blinds & Shades Available For Sale

How To Deal With Bent Aluminum Blinds.

#toc background: #f9f9f9;border: 1px solid #aaa;display: table;margin-bottom: 1em;padding: 1em;width: 350px; .toctitle font-weight: 700;text-align: center;

Content

Blinds Direct.

Ideal Window Blinds Of 2020

A Couple Of Of Our Favorite Color Styles.

Personal Privacy At Home With Smart Tone.

Bay Windows, Corner Windows, And All Other Windows At An Angle

Blinds Direct.

What are smart shades?

Roman Shades Are Stylish They have a long history (we talk about that below) and have never gone out of style. This means that even decades from now, the Roman shades you choose today can look just as current then as they do now.

The area of the windows you wish to install shades on additionally impacts the installation expense. If you have home windows that remain in difficult-to-reach areas they will certainly call for specific tools and also boosted actions to reach. Furthermore, purchasing custom color coverings can boost the installation expenses because installers might need to find out greater than once to measure the location.

Best Window Blinds Of 2020

Should all blinds in a house match?

If you are installing electric blinds to screen hard to reach windows, battery powered blinds are a fantastic option. There is no need to install a plug socket nearby or run any new wiring. The batteries sit within the barrel of the roller blind itself, creating a neat and tidy finish.

Eventually, the number and size of the home windows is mosting likely to identify the general expense of window color setup. Comparable to other residence renovation jobs, the even more home window tones you mount, the more price savings. You can expect to pay around $60-$ 75 for a single-window shade, and around $200 for 5 home window shades.

A Couple Of Of Our Fave Color Styles.

What is better curtain or blinds?

Lutron's Serena Remote Controlled Shades can't solve the price problem (each unit costing around $350 at the least, plus $150 for the Caseta Bridge that integrates with Apple HomeKit). But Zonwering makes a little more sense than what you'll pay for other smart shades.

Tones, however, resemble sheets of textile that are frequently rolled up and also down. These aren't as multifunctional as blinds as they don't have a middle alternative. Nevertheless, this kind of window covering is the most effective at blocking out light totally when lowered. On a very standard degree, you'll initially require to choose whether you desire blinds, drapes or shades to cover your home windows.

Privacy At Residence With Smart Shades.

While push-button control blinds can not be managed by Alexa or Google House, they are relatively very easy to transform using clever plugs or clever switches. They also have a tendency to be less costly than completely clever device-capable blinds. I can stroll right into my room and inform Alexa to turn on the lights. Since that resemble is organized right into the space, I do not also have to state "bed room lights".

The cords can after that be run nicely along the wall right into the blinds fascia or brace for a cool finish. This is a very easy choice to set up with minimal expense, yet the plug outlet will need to be located nearby to ensure the wires do not require to be run also far. Lutron's Serena Remote Controlled Tones can not address the price problem (each system costing around $350 at the least, plus $150 for the Caseta Bridge that incorporates with Apple HomeKit). But their substantial price makes a bit even more sense than what you'll pay for other clever tones. Not only do they flaunt features like Siri voice control and also geofencing-based automation, they also integrate with plenty of other clever residence gizmos, like lights and thermostats.

Envision you update this currently versatile shade to its smarter version by making them Z-wave suitable.

Then roller solar tones are perfect for you, if power performance as well as sun security is high on your concern checklist.

These can be bought in the cost series of $350 and $500 roughly.

Automating these shades make them a lot more versatile and less complicated to run the large home window tones.

The American Homesupplier Smart Curtain Rod reveals it's not just blinds which can be automated. This mains-powered drape pole is built from steel and plastic to provide a sturdy and eye-catching residence fixture. It's quickly set up as well as is available in three various rod dimensions, depending on the dimension of your window. The pole after that supplies various means to regulate your drapes, consisting of the remote, the going along with smartphone application or with any type of number of wise residence tools.

I must have the ability to state, "Alexa, open the blinds" yet I can't. I need to state "Alexa ask MySmartBlinds to open up the bedroom". I intend to team blind activities with lights and also other points. " Alexa, set movie scene" should be able to close the blinds in that room 75% up, dim the lights to 30%, and also established the ceiling follower to low.

Are window valances outdated?

Unlike traditional blinds, which come in set sizes, Ikea's version can be cut to size and use double-sided tape and strips of Velcro to keep them in place.

When you turn on your favored movie or would such as to view the football video game of the year, or you can set a scenario for your blinds to close. Well, why do you have a remote to alter networks on your TV or why do you have electric windows in your vehicle? The checklist continues yet the main reason that there are so few individuals with mechanized blinds is the price of it. If you have a plug outlet located near to the windows that you want to dress, you can opt to have the electrical blinds connected in via a DC adaptor.

These tones or blinds are a hassle-free alternative for those that don't like the device for the Venetian blinds. Rather than rotating slats, this choice has textile that rolls up and pulls down to cover the home window. Nonetheless, you can likewise choose blackout shades that are made with thicker materials that will certainly supply full coverage over the home window for much better light blocking. Specifically if you wish to get blackout tones for deep sleep so you're not gotten up by light getting in through the window, after that this option will certainly function well for your bedroom.

The next point to think about in the past purchasing wise blinds is whether you wish to maintain your existing blinds, drapes or tones or whether you want to acquire a new set. Some wise blind devices are basically motors that can be connected to the window treatments you already have. Others include entirely new blinds, which might be far better if you're suitable out a new residence or need a modification in style. The second kind of wise blinds are additionally motorized yet can just be managed through a push-button control. In some cases, the remote might be voice-activated, and also usually these blinds flaunt a timer feature, allowing you to open and close the blinds a number of times a day instantly.

Bay Windows, Edge Windows, As Well As All Other Windows At An Angle

On top of that, must you ever wish to close your drapes manually, a little yank will certainly start the automated closing process. Mounting this easy tool only requires two braces as well as a quick push. These battery-operated wise blinds are managed by means of a remote, so they don't have as several wise house features as some other alternatives. Nevertheless, they come in a substantial series of sizes as well as shades so they can be matched to your house style. If you're trying to find cordless power outage tones, then this is a strong pick.

Mechanized tones can be incorporated with various other wise home appliances such as lights, thermostats, awnings, clever locks and also even more. By doing this, you can set scenarios such as "go down" when the awnings close because of much wind.

Are Roman shades out of style?

Motorize your existing blinds and shades MOVE offers the ability to easily motorize your existing window treatments. It's a revolutionary product that adds the automation enhancement to the existing window treatments you love, saving you hundreds of dollars, and making operating your window treatments easier!

Obtain Professional Design Suggestions Today.

Automated shades can be a great feature for any space, but when you begin considering the marketplace, you might be surprised how costly outfitting an entire home can be. That claimed, wise shades as well as blinds have a lot of capacity. They can make windows in hard-to-reach areas extra easily accessible, as well as can be important devices for the senior or handicapped. These tones can be a lot higher in rate than others, due to the benefit as well as high quality of the fabric. They may cost around twice as long as various other roller tones as well as aren't the very best option for those on a budget.

[furederiko]

Countdown Counter: 7. Does having doubt and hesitation a good thing when the universe is on the brink of an all-out annihilation? Kyuranger 42 demands Lucky to firmly answer said question...

- Having cleared out the Hell's Gate, the Space Rebellion immediately moves forward through the tunnel to enter Planet Southern Cross. Last episode's bait and switch twist worked out nicely, but what kind of repercussion would it bring to the team? Well, thanks to the reveal that Aslan is an actual puppet of Don Armage, Lucky is now completely out of his zone. I think it would have been easier for him had Aslan has already been dead like Kukuruga said. But things like this is definitely Armage's sly way of doing things. And this doubt and hesitation lingers on throughout the mecha battle too... - Prior to the cool galactic battle, Tsurugi tells Lucky to resolve his mind: choose the universe, or his father. Tsurugi himself seems to be dealing with his own ordeal, with that mysterious chest pain lingering ever since he saw Southern King's vision. Further more, Mecha-Madako also delivers a secret message from Armage to him. The Shogun wants to meet him in person! This could be another confirmation that Armage is indeed someone... 'familiar' to him. Just a theory but... I don't know, perhaps someone who stole his immortality? Which might explain why he seems to be reaching his limit. - By the way, the first mecha sequence is against Jark Matter's special welcoming committee. A horde of giant Tsuyo-Indavers, Consumarz, Unit-00, along with Mecha-Anton new creation: the hideous and enormous Akyacchuga. As the name suggests, that's Akyanba + Tecchu + Kukuruga as one unit. In the words of Spada later on, a "three-course" offering. Yikes! - There's an even bigger problem at hand. Apparently, a huge amount of Planetium stolen from various other planets is being stored inside the planet's core. Naga and Raptor who stays on board the Battle Orion Ship to analyze the core (as well as tending wounded Garu at bay with Caesar), discover that it is acting as a huge planetary-sized bomb with the potential to wipe out the entire universe! Since the Summer movie took cues from "Star Wars" and its Death Star plot, I wonder if this Planetium Bomb is also another homage to that space opera? Or could this be a nod to "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" instead? Hmmm... - Suffice to say, they need to shut down the planet's core right away. Unfortunately, Akyacchuga is NOT a force to be reckon with, since even Kyutamajin (with 4 people short though) couldn't handle it. To make matters worse, Masked-Aslan uses the opportunity to blast Orion Voyager's cockpit. Creating a hole wide open on the right shoulder, he then invades the Battle Orion Ship to personally exterminate Leo Red Orion. Yep, it takes 42 episodes to admit, but this is undoubtedly the most fatal design error of not just one, but ALL of Kyuranger's mecha. - Leo Red Orion is too focused on freeing Masked-Aslan from his mind control. Both Naga and Raptor are injured because of that, so Phoenix Soldier jumps out to aide them by throwing Masked-Aslan off bridge. This forces Draco Commander to downgrade Kyutamajin to Ryutei Kyuren-Oh amidts its battle against Akyacchuga. Of course, that means things aren't looking good so there's no other choice for the team but to retreat into the shadow using the Vulpecula Kyu Globe. NOTE: I'd argue that Naga could have used his freezing glare to stop Masked-Aslan. It would be far effective than trying to transform. But perhaps he got caught up by the moment and couldn't pull it off... - We get a quiet 'stealth' moment before the action heats up again, and it's a strong one that showcases the strength of the team. Minor details that remind us how close they have become as a family. Tsurugi keeps up his role as the strict but caring figure with his 'tough love'. Hammy continues to be the voice of conscience and logic for them, in this case for someone she initially disliked. Stinger openly reminds him to the time he had a similar situation with Scorpio, and returns the favor. While Naga (with the help of Balance's mechanical expertise to tweak machines) devises an utterly clever plan to use his very own Black Hole Kyu Globe to swallow the Planetium Bomb's explosion. They wouldn't have been able to do this, without experiencing growth throughout the series. So it's a strong point for the show, and proof of good writing that brings everyone together. - Thanks to everyone's help (including Garu who has woken up thanks to new BFF Caesar's energy), Lucky is back to his usual self. He makes up his mind that he doesn't have to choose. Because as always he's going to rely on his fortune to save both the universe and his dad at the same time. It seems Tsurugi is doing the same, for he soon will be heading out to address Don Armage's private invitation, and get the answer to the Shogun's outrageous ambition to annihilate everything. - Phase 1 is Round 2 between all mechas against Akyacchuga! Each part of the MotW showcase their unique abilities. Kukuruga's trick to absorb attacks. Akyanba's sound sorcery to take control of Orion Battler. And poor Tecchu with... I guess his thing is that chainball bit? LOL. The Vice Shogun's Triangle Burst is no match to Orion Big Bang Cannon, so this is their final moment in the show. - Phase 2 is the team sans Tsurugi landing on the planet's core to infiltrate the main base. Their goals are: set up the Black Hole Generator created by Balance, and rescue Aslan. With Commander Xiao and Raptor guarding the Battle Orion Ship, will the remaining 9 members (oh hey, KYUU-ranger!) succeed? We'll see...

Overall: Dynamic mecha battles at the start and end of one episode? That's a pleasant surprise. Not to mention the long absent formation of Ryutei Kyuren-Oh's reappearance. I admit that half of the episode was focused on Lucky's ordeal. That might have scratched several audience the wrong way. But I personally just loved how the bits and pieces from earlier stories were neatly piled up and connected to one other, as we got to see Lucky's friends returning the favor and leading him out of his hesitation. That deserved a thumbs up, even if it played a bit like dejavu to the first half of episode 12. Inspite of that, the entire episode felt intense, the stake was dire, and the plot built up wonderfully to what would be the best episode of the series. This felt like a penultimate episode, and I honestly hope that's not the case... Next week: An explosive climax in the Southern Cross... PS: In case you haven't noticed, this recap is more than a week late! I sort of 'lost' my internet connection some time around December 13th, and inevitably was forced to be completely OFFLINE ever since my last post. Took me almost two weeks to finally back online! With that said, recap for episode 43 which had already aired on Christmas Eve will also arrive later today. At the very least, I'll push for it to go up before the year 2017 ends... *sigh*

Episode 42 Score: 8,3 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: December 29th, 2017 - Version 3.10. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[pan-xichen]

What The Heckin Heck Is Gonna Happen To Keith: a meta I guess

OKAY SO I, like every other Keith stan, am wondering what the heck they’re gonna do with Keith. Post s4 he is no longer a paladin and is a member of the Blade of Marmora, but due to the events of the finale I’m still unsure as to how long that will last. Will the team find out he almost sacrificed himself for them without them knowing? Also something to note: Voltron has not used its sword (I think I’m sorry if I forgot I haven’t watched the season since the day it came out lmao) since Keith has stopped being a paladin. The fact that the sword is basically Voltron’s signature weapon leads me to believe that Keith very likely will end up as a paladin again (unless they did form it without him I can’t honestly remember for sure), but then he’d no longer be able to work with the Blade of Marmora, and one of the current paladins would have to lose their position for Keith to return to a lion.

The scenarios I could see happening are: 

- Keith somehow becomes the leader of the Blade of Marmora and does not return to being a paladin 

-Keith does return to being a paladin, causing either Allura or Shiro to not be a paladin anymore and him to likely have to leave the Blade

- Keith and Shiro co-pilot the black lion when he is not off on missions for the Blade

- the extra lion in the carving of Voltron in s3 ends up becoming Keith’s new lion, forming a powerful extra but non-essential part of Voltron meaning it won’t hurt the team if he has to go off on Marmora missions from time to time 

- the extra lion calls to Allura and Lance returns to the blue lion, allowing Keith to return to Red and Shiro to remain the black paladin (probably also meaning that Keith can no longer run off with the Blade of Marmora)

- the extra lion wants Shiro as its paladin and Keith returns to being the black paladin (less grumpily now that he knows Shiro still has a lion)

(I’m gonna put the rest of this under a cut because it accidentally became 7000 words long oops)

Out of all of these outcomes I have a feeling that the writers will end up going for something that doesn’t make season 3/4′s development for Keith obsolete while at the same time allowing him to still contribute to the story directly. I personally can see scenarios three and four being the most plausible because they would allow for more aspects of his character to be present (blade and paladin) instead of eliminating one or the other. Although, the first one is definitely plausible in terms of Keith’s character and could even be combined with number four. We see him demonstrate time and again that he is a natural leader, despite not believing himself worthy to be one. I do feel as though eventually he will end up (willingly, this time) in a leadership role again after acknowledging that he is worthy of that position.

Scenario three would however feel like they’re just putting him back in for the sake of having him in and likely not really be meaningful (kinda like having Shiro come back so soon screwed up the story a bit for them because they planned to have him gone for much longer), as much as I like the idea of Keith and Shiro as co-leaders. That doesn’t necessarily mean though that they couldn’t be if they were not both the black paladins. I’ve seen a lot of theory about that extra lion in the Voltron carving at the beginning of season 3 being the white lion, which has been an actual canon thing in the past reincarnations of the series. Most of these theories involve Shiro as the white paladin, which I really do like but it feels like he really is meant to pilot Black (even if this might not actually be Shiro at the moment). His struggle to break her from Zarkon’s control was a great plot point from season 2 and both of them starting to heal from their respective trauma together would make for a nice aspect of Shiro’s character arc.

You do also have that Keith was bonded closely enough with Red to have her actually fly out into the middle of space and rescue him, and almost destroy an entire base to save his life. I love Keith as the red paladin, but if the writers still wanted to have him as an active member of the BOM it wouldn’t make much sense to put him back as the literal right arm of Voltron unless the lion switching is a thing that could happen more than once, (Lance moving back to Blue and Keith to Red but when Keith isn’t around Lance pilots Red and Allura pilots Blue) but that would be weird because they’ve put extra emphasis in the past on how important a paladin’s bond with their lion is, and having them be able to do this swap out thing all the time makes that point kinda meaningless. I think maybe the reason why Keith was able to connect with Red from so far away and have her respond when he was in danger might be the same reason why he could feel the blue lion’s energy months before Lance was even there to awaken her, and how he could pilot the black lion in that moment of desperation to save Shiro in s2 ep1. He’s connected to all of the lions in a strange way-- whether the answer to that is simply “he’s an alien” or there’s something else there, (which is what I suspect) remains to be seen, but I believe that his strong bond with Red may have been due to his connection with all of the lions. It still makes me kinda sad to see him not be her paladin anymore because he totally fits as the ‘guardian spirit of fire’, but as of right now the solution to the dilemma of “where are they gonna put keith without cutting him out of the main cast like they did in s4″ is a bit of a narrative corner the writers have backed themselves into that doesn’t logically involve him going back to being the red paladin without sacrificing the new development of him as a Blade of Marmora.

That being said, as much as I like white paladin Shiro (or whatever colour this hypothetical extra lion could be), having Keith be the white paladin would make more sense in my opinion. Voltron already has all of its essential components with five lions, but perhaps an extra lion would turn into a kind of upgrade for the robot. With the lore of the white lion from previous reboots, it might make sense to have that lion allow Voltron to create its own wormholes or even tear into other realities to pass through them, but maybe it just amplifies the robot’s powers. This would give Keith a place on the team while allowing him to still go off on Marmora missions if he is needed with them and not automatically jeopardize the team’s ability to form Voltron. It would also make for an interesting character development in him, as I imagine him seeing that Voltron can still be formed without him might make him feel less needed, but learning that his lion allows Voltron to do more than it could with only five would lift his spirit and make him feel like he belongs again. Maybe it could even include that the black and white paladins were meant to be co-leaders before something happened to the white lion, allowing both Keith and Shiro to donate their strengths as leaders to each other and cancel out some of their weaknesses (Shiro’s ability to remain level-headed under pressure and more diplomatic tendencies mixed with Keith’s passion and quick, creative thinking both at the head of Voltron would make the team an even more unstoppable force and I will fight anyone on this I could write a whole post dedicated to why Keith and Shiro as co-leaders would be beneficial and maybe even crucial to team Voltron’s success).

Technically I could end this here but I have a hypothetical scenario on how Keith becoming the paladin of the extra lion could go down so here have a pseudo-fic:

Keith’s near-death in season four is only foreshadowing to him actually dying... sort of. In the next season, Keith really does sacrifice himself for the greater good, allowing the team to succeed in their mission and deal a significant blow to the Galra empire. Before the battle during which he dies, they discover that there was a sixth lion initially built, but never used, as when it gained sentience it refused to awaken for any paladin. Perhaps this other lion foresaw the events that kickstarted the war with the Galra in the first place, and wanted no part in it, or maybe even wanted to avoid the pain of losing a paladin it knew was going to die. So it refused to function, maybe even flying away to some remote place in the universe (or even a different reality) to wait until its true paladin would arrive. The paladins find the white lion, but predictably it refuses to awaken for anyone-- that is, anyone who is present. Keith is off on another mission for the Blade when they find the lion.

Keith has been having strange dreams about the lion, not knowing exactly what it is. The lion has been trying to communicate with him, but to no avail. His own personal turmoil and lack of self-worth are clogging his thoughts, making it difficult for the white lion to reach him. The lion is brought to the castleship to prevent the Galra from finding it, and they start trying to do literally anything they can to wake it up, but the lion remains silent. It won’t even communicate with the other lions, as without a paladin and after having been gone for so long, it feels as though it doesn’t have the right to do so. Similarly to Keith, who feels as though he has no place on team Voltron.

In the last few episodes of the season, everyone goes into some epic battle again. Keith sacrifices himself so that Voltron can be victorious in a similar way to his near-sacrifice in season four, except the team knows what he’s doing this time. Shiro freezes up when they realize Keith is gone, before screaming and practically rampaging with his lion, cutting down hundreds of enemy ships at once. The white lion roars in frustration, sensing the death of a paladin it never got to bond with, and decides “nope, fuck you, you’re alive”. It launches itself out of the castle, collecting Keith’s broken body from where it’s floating out in space. The initial explosion didn’t end up killing Keith, but it did damage his suit, meaning he could no longer breathe. The lion shows up and uses its own pure quintessence to revive him. The process turns Keith’s hair white, and his irises a golden yellow, but does not corrupt him in the way that Zarkon was, due to the quintessence being pure. He is essentially reborn, like team Voltron’s very own phoenix. 

The loss of Keith has caused the team to get distracted from their goal in their distress, and they’re fighting a losing battle. The white lion suddenly springs up out of nowhere and joins the fray, confusing everyone as they have no idea who is piloting the lion. They win the battle and all return to safety, practically jumping out of their lions and crowding around the white one to see who this mysterious new paladin is. Shiro is lingering behind everyone but still trying to show interest. Everyone has this irrational hope at the back of their minds that somehow it’s Keith, and he didn’t really die, even though they watched his craft explode. A slender figure clad in white paladin armor steps out of the lion, still wearing their helmet. Everyone is holding their breath as the figure slowly approaches them and moves to remove their helmet. Nobody recognizes him at first now that his hair is white and his eyes are yellow, until Shiro finally looks up from where he’d been somberly looking down and says “Keith?” in the smallest, quietest voice he’s ever had. Keith smiles softly as he’s recognized and everyone runs to group hug him. As the others pull away, leaving Keith and Shiro still holding each other, the scene fades out. 

[jolteonjordansh]

Day 4: “Stargazer”

Synopsis: Michael has been traveling on his own throughout the Pokémon world for a couple of years now, sightseeing through multiple regions and experiencing their cultures, talking with their people and seeing the many different customs and practices. He finds himself reminiscing one night in the Hoenn Region, wondering if perhaps the Orre Region isn’t so distant from the rest of the world after all…

Author’s Note: Finally, a simpler prompt! And a bit of a shorter one, because I kind of needed it. I’ll be honest, “Challenger” was the hardest to write so far, mostly because I’m not confident in how I write Pokémon battles. I try to mostly follow the rules of the games but also keep some of the excitement from different mediums like the multiple Pokémon anime series we’ve had as well as Pokémon Adventures. Here, I wanted to illustrate a more mature, reflective Michael who has learned a lot, condensing some of his progression but still showing some of the naiveté that I feel will always be a part of his character—at least my interpretation of his character anyway.

This was a nice, calming one to write, as was the drawing. I drew it one evening while out in a restaurant with my family as I was having a bit of a bad day. This was actually weeks before Orre Week started, but it inspired me to go with these prompts and stories that went along with pictures. So originally, the other sketches were going to be inked like this one, but I ultimately left them as sketches (and did a liiiiittle bit of editing to give them an inked appearance). Here is one of two drawings that are actually inked.

But enough talk. For this one’s simplicity, I hope you guys enjoy it. Click below to the break for the one-shot!

“Gosh, we still have another route to get through before we reach Lilycove City…” Michael sighed as he stared down at his P*DA, viewing a map on its screen. “I suppose even if I’m given a P*DA Map feature, it’s not going to help my poor sense of travel and time, huh Jolteon?”

As Michael looked down at his yellow-furred companion, Jolteon scowled at his trainer with a sense of frustration. Michael laughed anxiously, scratching the back of his head.

“Come on now Jolteon, it’s not so bad. It’s another opportunity for us to camp out. Let’s find a nice spot, shall we?” Michael pushed through some of the tall grass around him, cutting through with Jolteon keeping an eye out for wild Pokémon sneaking around in the night. But the area had generally remained peaceful, with only a few wild Pokémon daring to approach the Orrean duo. Michael occasionally found himself tripping on a stray twig otherwise, never in much danger.

Walking further ahead, Michael then saw a vast lake stretched out before him. It shimmered under the moonlight, with the twinkling of the stars reflecting in its waves. Even Jolteon couldn’t help but stare at the sight, seeing Volbeat and Illumise flying over the lake with their flickering tails that made for a scene one would only dream of seeing in paintings

“Wow, this is gorgeous…” Michael breathed, looking down to Jolteon. “How about we sleep here Jolteon?”

With a bark of agreement and delight, Michael and Jolteon crawled out of the tall grass, with Michael kneeling at the lake’s shore as he pulled out a towel. He laid it on the ground, then sitting on top of it as he took off his fanny pack and set it aside. His camping set-up was a simple one to be sure, and while it had taken time to get used to not having his comfortable bed from his room, he was perfectly fine with it when the weather was normal. Jolteon settled next to Michael’s resting spot, pawing at the ground and preparing his spot before sitting down.

Leaning back on the towel, Michael looked back towards the grassy fields he had just climbed out of as well as the tall trees and flowers surrounding them. He had never seen such tall grass in any of the places he had been to so far—Kanto, Oblivia, Alola, Unova, Fiore, Johto… And he still found he had so much more to see.

“I can’t believe how bountiful the Hoenn Region is… And with so much technology too. Oh, and that the Devon Corporation was willing to show us some of their equipment and even some of their projects in development! I’m glad we got them connected with Makan and Perr, and they were able to all put together the P*DA Map with the PokéNav technology. It really opened some opportunities for us, didn’t it Jolteon?”

Jolteon nodded with a bark of recognition, purring as he enjoyed the soft breeze flowing through his spikey fur. Even he felt a sense of contentment traveling the rest of the world along with his master and fellow Pokémon companions. His ears twitched as he continued to listen to the reflections of his master, his tail wagging steadily.

“I mean, the city we just came from, Fortree City… I know Agate Village was built around nature too, but Fortree followed the concept in a new way. They built them into the trees themselves and are living along with nature itself. It blended in so well…” Michael closed his eyes as he re-envisioned the city, with other locations flashing through his mind. “And then there was the ash falling from Mount Chimney… The snowy, glacial mountains in Oblivia… The tropical islands of Alola… And that massive metropolis in Unova…!”

Opening his green eyes back up, Michael glanced towards Jolteon as he chuckled. “Sorry to go on like that Jolteon. Just… wouldn’t it be great if Orre could be the same?”

Jolteon nodded as he looked towards the stars in the sky, with Michael’s head following the same direction. The sky was colorful with not just a deep navy, but shades of purple and ivory with star clusters. He found himself picking out constellations, his ears taking in the chirps of nocturnal Pokémon around him as he took in the atmosphere.

His eyes then caught a brief white streak across the sky, eyelids widening and letting out a small gasp. But before he could even speak, several more shooting stars followed as the sky began to light with these elements. “Wow! Look at that meteor shower! I didn’t even know there was one tonight! And the sky is so clear…”

Jolteon exhaled with bewilderment as he stared at the collection of meteors burning into the atmosphere, with the reflection of the stars and meteors gleaming in the lake. It were almost as if the lake itself were a window to a parallel world, with even bits of Michael and Jolteon’s reflection in the water. The Pokémon and his trainer kept their eyes locked on the sky together, Michael’s mind then drifting into an old memory.

The night after the Pokémon HQ Lab’s celebration, Michael had walked outside and climbed up to the roof of the lab. This wasn’t an uncommon habit of his, as even in his childhood he had snuck on the roof with his then young Eevee. But that night, he had begun to feel lost in what to do. He had stopped Cipher, returned all of the Shadow Pokémon to their true states and back to their original owners, and had explored Orre to the farthest corners he was aware of. And after all was said and done, he had no goal in mind. And that very night, the same stars shined down on him and Jolteon from his very home, with its own falling stars crossing the skies.

Michael blinked as he heard a distant howl echo throughout the area, snapping him back into reality as he found himself gazing at the same sky. But not once did his mind truly realize the difference between what he was remembering and what he was seeing. Michael then straightened up his stance as he continued to watch the occasional shooting star, a smile suddenly coming across his face.

“You know Jolteon…” Michael began, with his Jolteon looking back over to his trainer. “The stars… are still the same here. They’re no different from Orre, are they?”

Jolteon’s head tilted at Michael’s sudden statement, with a curious whimper coming from his throat.

“Sure, Orre doesn’t have a sort of Pokémon League or wild Pokémon or even a region that’s very lively… But it still has people and Pokémon, doesn’t it? Don’t we all still live part of the same world and live under the same sky?”

Michael then laid back on his towel, with a growing smile on his face as he continued to think aloud with Jolteon soon laying alongside him. “In that case, we deserve to play a part in it. I know we have some complications, but… maybe we can change that somehow.”

Change. It was something people feared. An undertaking that was heavier than a quest around the world for self-discovery. Its results were always a mystery, with no one truly knowing how change would affect the world around them. But it was change that always progressed the world—sometimes for better, yet sometimes for worse. But Pokémon Trainers had not existed without humans and Pokémon making the change to strengthen their bonds. Pokémon Leagues would not exist without humans creating the tradition. So many of the regions throughout the world would not be connected without their communities making the effort to connect with each other. Change dictated and directed the world.

The very word—change—brought a now familiar face to Michael’s mind. A tall and lean young man with tanned skin and brown hair, wearing simply a white cap, green glasses, a lab coat, gray pants and green sandals. The man always wore his huge, enthusiastic grin with his stubble, full with so much energy that he might not have been human.

“Kukui… Professor Kukui strived to put together Alola’s new Pokémon League…” Michael mumbled. “He worked with so many people to put together the Island Challenge, and he never wavered. He was such a cheery guy to talk with, and so understanding of the kind of situation Orre and its people are in…”

Change… Thinking of the word once more, Kukui’s face burned into Michael’s mind with his usual grin and hearty laugh. And with such passion as his, Kukui made change happen. Change that was strong enough to transform an entire region and its customs.

“Maybe… That’s what I need to do,” Michael sat up once more. “If I can bring change to the Orre Region just the same, I can bring it a better future for everyone too. That’s a change that would be for the better, just like with Alola… Don’t you think Jolteon?”

Looking over, Michael then saw Jolteon had now fallen asleep, curled up and gently snoring up against his towel. Seeing his lifelong partner at peace, Michael couldn’t help but smile as he gently pet the yellow canine’s head as he purred in his sleep. Fatigue finally began to settle into Michael’s mind, as he laid back down and turned to his side facing Jolteon. Taking off his hat and setting it down, Michael then continued to pet Jolteon’s soft body as his eyes finally began to shut.

“We’ll… figure it out, I’m sure…” Michael yawned as his mind finally began to settle, with the faint idea of a new Orre forming in his mind. “And when we do… We’ll make a brighter future for the Orre Region.”

[t-baba]

The most popular JavaScript links of 2019

#469 — January 3, 2020

Read on the Web

JavaScript Weekly

The holiday season is rapidly coming to a close and we're looking forward to not only a new year but the entirety of the Roaring Twenties. Rest assured, the JavaScript world is not going to look the same when 2030 turns up so watch this space! 😄

We'll be back as usual next week, but this week we're taking a look back at 2019 and the most popular things you clicked on. If you didn't read every issue in 2019 (we wouldn't expect you to!) you'll hopefully find a few things worth revisiting here.

Thanks for supporting us — we look forward to keeping you up-to-date in the years to come.

— Peter Cooper and the Cooperpress team

📈 Our most popular links of 2019:

1. The TypeScript Tax: A Cost vs Benefit Analysis — As much as we love JavaScript, this was really a strong year for TypeScript, with it seeming to become the de facto way to bring strong typing to JavaScript. Back in January, Eric Elliott asked "is it worth it?" and presented some critical, data-driven analysis to establish its viability. It was your most clicked link of 2019.

Eric Elliott

2. New ES2018 Features Every JavaScript Developer Should Know — We're now looking forward to ES2020 and we've had ES2019 in 2019 too, but this post remains packed with interesting examples of spread properties within object literals, asynchronous iterators and asynchronous iterables, Promise.prototype.finally, and other features that are still not exactly common to see in the wild.

Faraz Kelhini

The Complete ⚛️ React Learning Path — Take your React to the next level to find out what it is fully capable of with this comprehensive learning path.

Frontend Masters sponsor

3. 43 JavaScript Questions, With Their Answers Explained — Whether for fun or a job interview, this remains an interesting set of JavaScript-related questions, complete with explanations of the answers.

Lydia Hallie

4. I Don't Hate Arrow Functions (But..) — Arrow functions (=>), as introduced in ES6, have generally been a much welcomed addition to JavaScript but Kyle Simpson reminded us they’re not suitable in every scenario and created an ESLint plugin to help you keep a handle on their use.

Kyle Simpson

5. Responsible JavaScript: A Three Part Series — We originally only linked to part one of this great series where Jeremy Wagner plotted a course to avoid the unnecessary bloat and inaccessible patterns of modern JavaScript trends.. but now you can enjoy part 2 and part 3 too, where he went into more technical depth on bundling and handling third-party scripts.

Jeremy Wagner

6. What’s New in JavaScript — At this year’s Google I/O ’19, Mathias Bynens and Sathya Gunasekaran of the V8 team gave a fantastic 30 minute ‘state of the union’ talk on the state of JavaScript as a language and what new features are being baked in.

Google I/O video

💻 Jobs

JavaScript Developer at X-Team (Remote) — Work with the world's leading brands, from anywhere. Travel the world while being part of the most energizing community of developers.

X-Team

Senior Software Engineer, Frontend — Use the latest tech to mold an innovative, empathy-centric experience for creators to order fast, high-quality parts (forging space robots to animatronics).

Fictiv

Find a Job Through Vettery — Vettery is completely free for job seekers. Make a profile, name your salary, and connect with hiring managers from top employers.

Vettery

📘 The most popular articles & tutorials of 2019

The Cost of JavaScript in 2019 — Addy Osmani presented a 2019 update to his Cost of JavaScript in 2018 article in both video and article forms. If you still want to get a feel for where the true bottlenecks are with JavaScript, this is a must read.

Addy Osmani

Should We Rebrand 'JavaScript'? — This thoughpiece provoked quite a bit of discussion in the community over the problems (or not) with ‘JavaScript’ as a name. I think we'll see more on this front in 2020.

Kieran Potts

First Online Mentored Software Bootcamp w/ Job Guarantee — Get a job or your money back with Springboard’s online bootcamp. Benefit from 1:1 mentorship, our exclusive curriculum, and top career coaching.

Springboard (Software Engineering Career Track) sponsor

When Should You Be Using Web Workers? — Web Workers provide a way to run JavaScript in background threads in the browser and you’d think using them as much as possible would be a good thing.. right? Current frameworks make this tough, says Surma, who shows us why we should be working to change this ASAP.

Surma

Practical Ways to Write Better JavaScript — You’re not necessarily going to agree with all of them (e.g. “Use TypeScript”!) but this is a reasonably solid batch of points to think about overall.

Ryland Goldstein

JavaScript Symbols: But Why? — Not played with symbols (a new data type introduced with ES6) yet? This is a gentle way to get up to speed with not only what they are but why you might use them.

Thomas Hunter II

Make 2020 the Year to Master MongoDB. Try Studio 3T Today — Generate driver code for JavaScript, Python, Ruby and more? Build queries fast with our drag & drop editor? Of course.

Studio 3T sponsor

Using Native JavaScript Modules in Production Today — “now, thanks to some recent advances in bundler technology, it’s possible to deploy your production code as ES2015 modules—with both static and dynamic imports—and get better performance than all non-module options currently available.”

Philip Walton

7 Tricks with Resting and Spreading JavaScript Objects — Using modern JS features to merge objects, organize properties, and more.

Joel Thoms

📺 The most popular videos of 2019

▶  Why I Was Wrong About TypeScript — Smells like an opinion-driven talk, but actually covers the history behind compile-to-JS languages, how we got to a point where interest in TypeScript is growing strongly, and why it’s worth taking seriously.

TJ VanToll

▶  Why 0.1 + 0.2 === 0.30000000000000004: Implementing IEEE 754 in JS — Head to your node CLI right now and type in 0.1 + 0.2. If the answer confuses you, this is the video for you. And even if you know why, working with the building blocks behind floating point representations is just cool anyway.

Low Level JavaScript

Video Developer Report - Top Trends in Video Technology 2019

Bitmovin sponsor

▶  Keep Betting on JavaScript — Kyle Simpson presents a history lesson of JavaScript, looks at how a variety of features were (or weren’t) introduced, and compels us to think about the future of the Web and JavaScript as we contribute and ‘place bets’ on technologies.

Kyle Simpson

▶  A Look at Deno: A New(ish!) JavaScript Runtime — Ryan originally created Node about ten years ago but over the past couple of years he’s been working on Deno, a non-Node compatible, TypeScript-focused runtime with some interesting features. (Note: Poor audio until a few minutes in.) I suspect we'll hear a lot more about this in 2020.

Ryan Dahl

🔧 The most popular code & tool releases of 2019

Svelte 3 Released: Rethinking Reactivity — Svelte is one of the most interesting UI frameworks out there as it’s not scared of taking a unique approach. Rather than running in the browser, Svelte runs at build time, compiling your app into more efficient runtime JavaScript. Svelte 3 took some major steps forward, particularly in helping you write less code.

Rich Harris

Mithril.js 2: A JavaScript Framework for Building Brilliant Applications — Mithril is a really neat alternative to things like Vue, React or Angular. It’s very compact and fast (so ideal for mobile), runs a bit closer to vanilla JS than the alternatives, and is great for tying together vanilla JS libraries rather than needing its own alternatives.

Mithril

RunJS: A JavaScript 'Scratchpad' Tool for the Desktop — Write and run JavaScript instantly. Useful for learning, experimenting, or perhaps even creating screencasts, tweets, or similar educational content. Originally macOS only but now supports Windows and Linux too.

Luke Haas

Pixi.js 5: Create Beautiful 2D Web Experiences — Boasts the ‘fastest, most flexible 2D WebGL renderer’ to let you take advantage of hardware acceleration without getting involved in WebGL or 3D concerns. Check out demos for what the code looks like and what you’d use it for. There’s also a Pixi Playground for quickly crafting your own experiments.

PixiJS

Babylon.js 4.0: The (Very) Powerful WebGL Graphics Engine — Such a significant release that they released a 2 minute video trailer for it! Want to play? Enjoy this editable live demo.

Microsoft

Postwoman: An API Request Builder and Tester — A free alternative to Postman, a popular app for debugging and testing HTTP APIs. Postwoman works in the browser and supports HTTP and WebSocket requests as well as GraphQL. Insomnia is a similar tool if you want to run something as a desktop app.

Liyas Thomas

FlexSearch.js: A Full Text Search Library — Claims to outperform all of the alternatives while supporting features like multi-word matching and phonetic transformations. Happy in both the browser and Node.js.

Nextapps GmbH

Just: A JavaScript Task Library from Microsoft — If you’re familiar with Ruby’s rake, it’s a bit like that. Define tasks in JavaScript, run them with just (which works fine without installation using npx) and you get a bunch of nice features like logging and task composition.

Microsoft

Node-RED 1.0 Released — Node RED is a flow-based, visual programming tool (aimed primarily at hardware automation) that’s built on top of Node.js. Despite only reaching 1.0 in 2019, it’s a mature project used in numerous real world IoT projects.

Nick O'Leary

by via JavaScript Weekly https://ift.tt/2QHifL3

[blschaos3000-blog]

Its 7:00 pm hot/humid

Welcome to “8 Questions with…….”

I was recently sent a new film called “To The New Girl” of which I loved and I think its one of the best films of the year.  After watching it for the fourth time,I knew I wanted to interview EVERYONE involved in the film but also knew that wouldn’t be practical. So I went with the top two of my wish list and was lucky enough to land this interview with the playwright who wrote the play and later on the film,Sam Macher.  Yes,I know my title says “Samantha” but the lady likes to go by Sam. Sam is one of the most multitasking artists I have met yet….writer,playwright,teacher and producer. She does this while also working in the professional world (as long as there isn’t a pandemic going on). I really wanted to know how her play has become such a powerful film and so I went slightly wild with my questions. Sam is the type of artist that you find yourself saying “8 Questions?? To hell with that….I got waaaaay more then 8 Questions to ask”. I hope you all enjoy this interview and getting to know the voice behind one of the best films of the year in “To The New Girl” as I ask playwright Sam Macher her 8 Questions…..

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your current project

I’m Sam Macher, the writer/producer of “To the New Girl”, an independent feature film from New Girl Pictures and Dragon Hunter Productions. I’m a playwright by training, producer by necessity, and storyteller by birth.

 How have you been doing during this pandemic? Have you found it challenging to remain creative or has it been easy?

The pandemic has presented as many challenges as it has opportunities in a lot of ways. On the one hand, I was laid off from my stable day job, but on the other, I had more time and energy to dedicate to helping get this film project (and others) off the ground. All in all, I feel lucky to be safe and healthy, and though this hasn’t been the most creative time for me, I’m still able to work on projects I love with people I love.

 What was it like growing up in your house as a child? Were your parents artistic and how did they encourage you to be creative?

I would say both of my parents are incredibly creative and imaginative in their own ways, so the nice thing about being their child is that there were no limits to what they thought I could do. My dad is a first generation American and built his own transportation/logistics business in our garage (it’s now been around for 30 years this fall!). My mom has worked her way from office manager to VP at a national non-profit and now works at a architecture firm, in part because she has an incredible passion for design. I think they both come from a “follow your passion- you’ll either figure it out or you’ll change direction” mindset.    A lot of folks I’ve met during my career had well-meaning relatives that told them to pursue more traditionally lucrative fields of study and warned them away from unstable careers in the arts, but thankfully I never worried too much about that. For me, as the first one in my immediate family to go to college, their perspective was that so long as I got my education, everything else would work out. They turned out to be right. I learned the skills I needed to run my creative career like a business by producing my own work and this eventually translated into working at small non-profits then small businesses, and eventually even Fortune 500 companies. Once they got past my weird job history and somewhat irrelevant degrees, hiring managers saw my creativity as an asset and not a liability. I will say though that I got (and still get) a lot of benefit of the doubt along the way. Attending the right schools and having the right connections has undoubtedly helped me succeed. I don’t say this to undermine my talent or work ethic, but to highlight that lots of talented folks work hard and unfairly don’t even get in the door in creative or corporate spaces.

 When did you start writing and what type of writing did you do? How important was reading to you growing up and who were your favorite writers growing up?

  I started writing at a pretty young age. I think the first story I wrote was when I was six or seven. Thankfully, my mom kept all of my “early work”, and it’s funny to me that even then, it was surprisingly dialogue heavy. I also used to write TV shows for my friends and I to perform on the playground and spent countless hours making movies on the family camera.   I read a lot as a kid and some of my favorite books were the Anne of Green Gables series. I think I read them/watched the Canadian miniseries dozens of times. I also loved RL Stine and all the Goosebumps and Fear Street books. I adored Steven King. I still can’t get enough ghost stories. One of these days I’ll finally get around to writing something spooky!

You attended and graduated from the University of Virginia,what was your college experience like? How much  did your creative writing blossom while you were in school?

   College was… weird. I wasn’t a great student, but I loved my spiritual writing and playwriting classes and probably took 6 of them during those 4 years. Even though my academics were a little subpar, I learned a ton. I learned how to write in a workshop, give and accept feedback, and self-produce my plays, which was completely invaluable. The training I got in the UVA playwriting program (headed by Doug Grissom) was a huge part of how ready I was for my MFA at Hollins (led by Todd Ristau). While I was at Hollins, I already had the toolkit to be a good collaborator, but they helped mold me into a good writer. So many of the opportunities I’ve had over the years have come from the reputation I established at Hollins and the classmates and instructors that believed in me enough to produce my work.    To this day, I still have a strong relationship with both programs. UVA brings me back as a guest artist about once a year, and I’ve even gotten to be a guest lecturer as well. The Hollins New Works Initiative still functions as a production office for my films, allowing me to fundraise through their 501c3 infrastructure. Not all schools take this kind of risk on their alums. I’m grateful that my schools do.

 What drew you to live theater and how did you get your start as a playwright?  How is writing a play different from screenwriting?

Ah! I have always desperately wanted to be an actor, but alas, this is not a gift I possess. I don’t know what to do with my hands when I’m on stage. I can’t remember lines to save my life. My reactions as a person are wildly exaggerated, and so on stage they somehow look even more ridiculous! But, I figured if I couldn’t be on stage, I could certainly still be near it.   I’ll tell you a quick story: My senior year of high school, we were supposed to have a spring musical. Then, our drama teacher left to go work at another school, then the person who took over the program resigned mid-year and the musical was cancelled. I was furious. Though I am a fairly crappy actor, I’m a pretty good singer (and am really enthusiastic) and thought for SURE this was going to be the year I was going to be in the play! So I did what I thought anyone would do, and wrote the spring musical with a role for me in it! It was funny because I wound up being so busy with rewrites and eventually producing, that I had to recast myself in the show, direct it, and then wound up producing the other student-written one-acts that we needed to couple with my play to make it a full evening of theater. The whole point was to be IN the play! But once I saw how awesome my classmates were, I really couldn’t envision it any other way. From there on out, I stuck to what I did best. Lurked backstage like the Phantom of the Opera, and lived vicariously through the folks in the spotlight.    The second part of question is a little harder for me to answer. Aside from this project, most of my film work is documentary and movement pieces, so I don’t really write for the screen in a traditional way. Generally though, when I have written more straightforward screenplays, it’s a lot more “Show” and a lot less “Tell”. You think a lot more about what can be communicated with the character’s actions, their facial expressions, their moods, rather than what they’re saying. The classic axiom is “When you write a play, the audience should be able to know what’s going on just by listening to it. When you write a film, the audience should be able to know what’s going on even just by looking at it.” I try to just do that.

How did you get the inspiration for “To The New Girl”? How hard was it to take your words from paper to a live stage?

I went through a divorce in my early 20’s after a brief marriage, so the play itself is very loosely inspired by that emotional journey (not the factual one), but also by the women in my life who’d been through divorces as well. The stories I heard were both sad, and heartening. In their own way, they were telling young me that things would be hard, but you’ll get through it. I think I was trying to find a way to capture the essence of their advice to me to share with others, and wound up twisting it on it’s head a bit to tell the story we have now. 

Have you ever done spoken word yourself and what drew you to basing your play on this format? 

  I have incredible respect for those who tell their stories this way, and also it seems, they have made an obvious (if not intentional) impact on the way I tell mine, but I’ve never performed spoken word poetry.   I think the reason this way of storytelling appealed to me when I first started writing TTNG is that when you don’t have other characters to play off of, or a clear setting, it’s the voice of the character itself that tells you a lot about who they are. Is this character a fast talker? Does this person take long, deliberate pauses? Does this person invite you in, ask you to sit, and then tell you their life story? What do the answers to these questions tell you about how they live their lives outside of this play? When you bake in the pauses and emphasis, I think an actor gets a lot to chew on (or ignore, which is also fine). I think the acknowledgement that how and when we speak is almost as important as what we say, is something that spoken word poets and I have in common.  How did you find your “voices” for “Girl”? How many original actresses made the transition to the film? 

   The original production at SkyPilot Theater Company in Los Angeles was developed in close collaboration with their actors and the original director Jeanette Farr-Harkins. I went to auditions, heard the women in the company read their monologues, and as I heard them speak, I started to see my characters realized. A lot of those speech patterns you see in the play evolved from imagining specific actresses in these roles. How they talk and how they move in a helped ground these characters while I was writing.   Only one actress came from the original SkyPilot cast to the film- Samantha Carro. She played Elyssa in the original production. But Kelly Goodman is an actor from the original company, so when we were casting the role of Miriam, she came to mind really quickly.  What were you feeling during Opening Night? What emotions were you feeling listening to your words?

I wrote this play so long ago (I think I was 24, so about 10 years ago at this point), so whenever I see this show, it’s a little like hearing people read your diary from that age. It’s surreal, but also incredibly cool. It’s nerve-wracking, but I also have enough distance from it to be able to evaluate the work for what it is today. I also feel incredibly proud that this play has had a decade of performances, and humbled/lucky that my collaborators have chosen to take it to this distance.

      How did the idea of making “To The New Girl” from the stage to screen make you feel?

As an artist, in general, I’m very “let’s throw stuff at a wall and see what sticks” so I was on board from the get go. I also trust Laura Hunter Drago, our producer, with my very life so I knew for sure she was the person to trust with this project.    I want to note that I was a little skeptical about there being widespread excitement for this project (sometimes I get in my own head about “why would anyone want to see my plays?”), but once the Kickstarter campaign was funded, I knew we’d have the support we needed to get it done. Laura never doubted it though. It’s amazing to have a producer with so much confidence in herself and confidence about the work. Did I mention I love her?

Did you have to make any adjustments in your play to fit the film?

Thankfully, not really. Since it’s such a simple script and setting (and it was workshopped pretty thoroughly), there weren’t a ton of edits needed to the final version of the screenplay.  You are also a  working professional,how do you balance your work life with your creative one?

I don’t 😊 It’s always kind of feast or famine either way. There are some times when I have the chance to throw myself into my writing and really go for it, and other times I have to hunker down and work so I can eventually support the writing. I think other writers definitely have more discipline in this way. I admire them greatly. 

Where do you find the time to write and what is your process like?

   At the moment, even in the pandemic with the layoff, I’m not writing a ton, but I am reviewing and revising work that I did in the past and making updates. I’m also seeing which projects I should be pushing for the next phase of production and which ones need to go to the back burner for a little longer. What I’ve found over the course of my career is that things that I worked on in the past have a way of becoming relevant again with time. TTNG is a lot like that- though I wrote it over ten years ago at this point, it has a new life and audience with the film. All that’s old is new again!    When I am in writer mode though, it’s a little like a faucet. I’ll sit down over the course of a few days, get the whole ugly story, warts & all, out of my brain in a few sittings. This, of course, comes after months of thinking about the characters, hearing how they talk in my mind, and wondering what is it about this time in these characters lives that makes this part of their story interesting? Why am I dropping in on them now? Why would the audience want to see this?    For example: With TTNG, I think we’re dealing with an emotionally charged moment for these women. They have something to say, they’re going to say it, and we (as a stand in for the woman they can’t say anything to) are going to hear it. We become a part of their journey- that’s why we’re here. After the inital brain dump,I honestly spend the next few months workshopping,rewriting,etc until I have something I can share with theater companies/filmmakers that I’ve worked that might be excited about it. Sometimes my collaborators love it! Sometimes they really don’t,or it’s not a fit for their audience. From there,I make a decision about next steps.Do I keep tweaking it or do I put it on the shelf for another time?

   What do you enjoy about teaching theater? Do you feel live theater still has a viable voice in the face of all the streaming channels we have now? 

There’s nothing I don’t enjoy about teaching theater, especially with younger students. It’s always a joy to share what you love with people, and watch them do it on their own in their own way. |  One of my favorite classes I ever taught was with a group called Determined to Succeed in Los Angeles. They paired me and my friends Nikki Adkins (an amazing children’s playwright), Elizabeth Dragga (founder of the non profit Book Truck), Jac Sanchez (a wonderful children’s librarian) and Jaime Robledo (an accomplished LA Theater Director and Writer) with local middle school students, and together we helped them write, produce, direct and star in their own plays. The kids were already so awesome, but it was fun to see them blossom over the summers into actors, writers, and directors. I hope that even if it didn’t instill a lifelong love of theater, that it taught them to be confident in their writing, proud of their stories, confident public speakers, and most importantly generous collaborators. Theater teaches all of that.

How can live theater connect with new generations?

In the example with the middle schoolers, I think we saw a lot of intergenerational give & take. We taught them how to tell their stories in a new way and helped them start to understand why the stories we tell are important. On our end, we learned a lot about what’s important to middle school students- what makes them laugh, what makes them sad, what makes them hopeful, and were able to drop any preconceived notions we had about “kids that age”. They consistently demonstrated heart and maturity beyond what I would have thought possible from 12 year olds (shows what I know), and gave us an opportunity to think about all we had in common, even being more than decade older.   (On a personal note, I also learned what YOLO means, which was great. I have used this term now unironically for long past it’s cultural expiration date to the eyerolling of everyone I know under the age of 25.)    Live theater, particularly new plays, provides a platform for those who don’t always have the most power in the room (like kids) to tell the people who do (like grownups) about their lives. It elevates and validates the stories being told. A production that does this successfully says to its creators and collaborators “This show/film was absolutely worth the time we invested, the money we invested into making it happen, and we also believe it’s worth the time and money our audience is investing as well.” It says to the audience “We trust you enough to know what to do once you’ve heard these truths” (This holds up for comedies as well as dramas, I think).    This is why live theater is so important. Not to say that every show you’re going to see will be transcendent (I know I’ve written some real stinkers) but again, at its best, you’re in the moment with those characters and their lives and their joys and sorrows. They become a thread in the tapestry of your understanding and empathy toward other people. You can’t replace that in-person connection. This is why it’s invaluable not only to have live theater but to have live theater that represents and values diverse voices and stories, and now more than ever elevates those who are underrepresented in the canon. 

What do you like doing when you’re not at work or writing? Do you have hobbies,causes,activities you like to do?

In the pandemic I’ve become a pretty enthusiastic gardener! I’m also enjoying cooking with the plants that come out of said garden. I also work as a volunteer activities coordinator (at least I did in the before times) for a local organization called ECHO that provides day support for medically disabled community members. Otherwise, I like hanging out with my husband, Bryce, and my dogs, Bridget & Neptune.  What will be your next project?

I’m currently in post-production on a documentary film chronicling the stories of Black equestrians in the county where I grew up with my friend and producer Nola Gruneisen. It’s called “You Should Be In Here, Too” and we’re scheduled to complete it hopefully next year!  The cheetah and I are flying over to watch you launch your latest play but we are a day early and now you are stuck playing tour guide,what are we doing?

Wow! I’ll have to find some Cheetah Friendly places 😊

   My perfect day in the hometown area: Start by seeing a matinee at the Angelika Mosaic Movie Theater in Merrifield, VA. They have the best popcorn in town and a fabulous film festival- The Northern Virginia International Film & Music Festival.  

Then we’d want to talk about what we just saw, so I’d suggest the Lake Anne Brew House in Reston. It’s a great place to have a beer while looking at a Lake. Perfect for post-movie conversation, and they have a patio, so totally cheetah-friendly. And then grab a substantial bite to eat at Ariake Sushi down the street. 

The next day, you should definitely take a drive out to Middleburg, VA (where Laura and I met, and most of my new film was shot) and visit The Upper Crust bakery for a Cow Puddle cookie. From there, you’ll enjoy the rolling hill drive toward the Shenandoah National Park. Stop at the Apple House for donuts near the entrance to the park. You won’t regret it.

    I like to thank Sam  (and Christa!!!) for taking the time to sit and talk with us about her new film,live theater and life in general. I can’t wait for “TTNG” to drop because I really believe its going to change and reshape a lot of people’s lives…..both from the creative side and also from the audience side. The fim will be drop this month on Amazon Prime so you’ll have plenty of chances to see it.

I like to thank you,the reader,for reading and supporting this interview. Feel

8 Questions with……….playwright Samantha Macher Its 7:00 pm hot/humid Welcome to "8 Questions with......." I was recently sent a new film called "

[josephlrushing]

Upgrade Your Kitchen Gear with the Ankarsrum Assistent Original Stand Mixer

The Ankarsrum Assistent Original is a beautiful machine that’s ready to help complete many kitchen tasks. Best known as a high-end mixer that’s perfect for mixing and kneading bread dough, it can also mix cake batter, churn butter, mix cookie dough, whip cream, and much more all without any additional accessories. This powerful mixer with an excellent warranty may be the last one you ever need to buy.

Here is everything that comes in the box.

I was first introduced to the Ankarsrum Assistent (yes “Assistent” is spelled correctly, it’s Swedish) while researching my review of the Challenger Bread Pan. Challenger Breadware only carries the best equipment for home bread baking, so I was instantly intrigued. The Ankarsrum, or “Ank” as it’s affectionately referred to by its users, is made out of chrome and steel, and it is built to last. The 600-watt motor is strong enough to mix up to 5kg (or 11 pounds!) of dough in the 7-liter stainless steel bowl.

Ank with the roller and scraper

The Ank with its plastic bowl and double beater.

The Ank comes with a 7L steel bowl as well as a 3.5L clear plastic bowl. The large stainless bowl is to be used for bread doughs while the smaller plastic bowl is to be used for cake batter, cookie dough, whisking meringue, making icing, etc. With the stainless steel bowl, you can use the included dough hook, roller, scraper, and cover. With the plastic bowl, you will use the included double beaters. You get two sets of whisks, one set of balloon whisks, and one set of pastry whisks.

Shiny control knobs

The back of the unit.

The Ankarsrum Assistent is uniquely engineered so that the motor is located at the bottom of the unit, and the bowl itself spins. This design provides for a completely open top, which makes it easy to add flour, water, etc. as the mixer is spinning. The open top also allows you to see and feel the dough much easier than competitors. There is a movable steel arm that spans over the bowl, which holds the roller, while the scraper attaches to the side of the bowl and remains stationary while the bowl spins. This design simultaneously rolls and kneads the dough, making it similar to kneading with human hands. You also use a dough hook instead of the roller arm, which leads to a little more tearing while kneading, but many people use it with great success.

Kneading my first dough, NY Style pizza dough.

The same pizza dough

NY Style pizza dough rolled into balls and ready to ferment in the fridge for a few days.

The setup with the plastic bowl is pretty nifty. The bowl has a hole in the middle that allows a central shaft to connect to the motor assembly. The double beater assembly then connects to the top of the shaft and spins using the internal gears. It’s a cool setup that works well but requires a lot of small parts and pieces to use.

The Ank is controlled using two knobs. The left knob is the on/off/timer. You turn the knob one click to turn it on, and if you keep going past “on,” you can select a timer setting where the Ank will turn off automatically after up to 12 minutes. The speed is controlled using the right knob, and it’s completely adjustable, unlike most mixers that have specific speed settings. You can take the Ank from 45 to 130 rpm and adjust it anywhere in between. Surprisingly, it’s a fairly quiet motor, which is nice considering I share the house with my wife and kids, and they’d get annoyed with a loud motor.

A look at the recipes included in the hardcover recipe book.

Ankarsrum kindly provides a nicely designed, hardcover recipe book with each Assistent. Recipes include everything from hamburger buns, focaccia, and standard bread loaves, to desserts, cookies, pasta, smoothies, milkshakes, and more. The recipe book is surprisingly well-designed and photographed, and the recipes are specifically formulated for use in the Ank.

One more advantage that Ankarsrum carries over its competitors is it’s a serious warranty, boasting a SEVEN-year warranty on the motor base and a one year warranty on accessories. The warranty only applies to the original purchaser, however, so be forewarned in the secondary market. This is a massive advantage over comparable units that carry a mere two-year warranty.

A look at the crumb of my NY Style pizza dough.

My pizza, because who doesn’t like pizza?

So let’s talk about my experience testing the Ankarsrum Assistent. Keep in mind that I’ve been using a KitchenAid Artisan series, tilt-head mixer for years, so that’s my basis for comparison. While I feel like a KitchenAid Pro Series bowl-lift stand mixer is a more apt comparison spec-wise, I haven’t used one myself. There’s certainly a learning curve when going from a KA mixer to the Ankarsrum Assistent, and it took some time for me to feel confident, but the huge bowl and powerful motor were appreciated early and often.

Homemade sourdough bagels, mixed and kneaded in the Ank.

They were awesome. Come to think of it; I think I still have some in the freezer!

With the Ank, you’re supposed to put in all of the liquid ingredients first, then add your flour slowly until your dough comes together. I’ve watched a lot of videos recommending that the Ank allows you to use slightly less flour than a recipe calls for; however, I’m a bit anal when it comes to recipes, especially when baking, so I typically used the recommended amount of flour. I used the roller the most when mixing my bread dough since that’s supposed to be the closest way to mimic hand kneading. When mixing the water, oil, yeast, etc., I pushed the arm toward the center and back to help the ingredients mingle, then I added the flour slowly until it all combined into a nice dough. The experience of being able to dump all the ingredients in while it was spinning, without having to lower the bowl, tilt the head back, or try to sneak in between the head and the bowl, was fantastic.

Once the dough was formed, I reduced the speed to allow it to knead gently. The dough rolls around inside the bowl, getting lightly squeezed between the roller and the side of the bowl, then kicked back by the scraper. It’s an efficient way to keep the dough moving while gently kneading it. The perimeter of the roller itself is scalloped, mimicking the shape of human fingers. As mentioned, there’s a learning curve when using the Ank, and I wasn’t always sure that my dough was properly kneaded, however, my final products always came out great.

M&M cookie dough in progress

We made a few different types of bread in the stainless bowl, including pizza dough (my favorite) a few times, challah, and sourdough bagels. The process, while different than what I’m used to, was reasonably easy to adapt to. I found that the combination of the roller and scraper did seem like human hands were kneading the dough, and it definitely felt more gentle than I’m used to with a KA dough hook. The dough was adequately kneaded to develop the gluten in the bread, though it took slightly longer than I expected, approximately 10 minutes or so. Each turned out as expected: the challah was light and soft, the bagels were chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside, while the pizza dough had great oven spring and was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Delicious, who doesn’t want some M&M cookies?

We also made M&M cookies using the plastic bowl and double beaters. We used the balloon (cookie) whisks to cream the room temperature butter before adding the sugar. The cookies came out great, as they were well mixed using the plastic bowl and double beaters. It was actually mesmerizing watching the double beaters work. Butter is a point worth mentioning. The Ankarsrum doesn’t have a solid “paddle” beater like KitchenAid mixers do, so it doesn’t have the ability to cream butter from the fridge. Ankarsrum makes it very clear that all butter must be room temperature before creaming. This may be an inconvenience to some, as it requires some forethought, but it’s not the end of the world.

After a few weeks of testing and many uses, I can confidently say that the Ankarsrum Assistent Original is an excellent mixer for those home bakers who are looking to level-up their kitchen equipment. The 7L bowl and 600W motor make it especially great if you’re going to be making a lot of dough at one time. There’s absolutely a learning curve, so you’ll want to go into your purchase expecting some time getting used to your device, but once you dedicate yourself to it, you’ll be making great food for years and years to come. The Ank is built like a tank, and it has the 7-year warranty to back it up. I’ve seen posts on the Ankarsrum Facebook group from people showing off their 20+-year-old mixers (previously called Electrolux Assistent, DLX, Verona Magic Mill).

Challah dough about to be kneaded by the dough hook; please excuse the messy counter.

Challah!

The Ankarsrum Assistent is beautifully designed, from both an engineering and aesthetic perspective. It’s available in 12 colors, enough to coordinate with any kitchen while it’s stainless steel bowl and curved lines would look good sitting on your counter, assuming you have the counter space. It has a removable power cord, so you can store it away easier, as well as a bowl cover that doubles as an accessory bowl while the Assistent is in use. They thought of everything.

Ankarsrum also has several accessories available to extend the uses for your Assistent. These nifty accessories include a spaghetti roller/cutter, lasagna sheet roller, grain/spice/coffee mill, slicer/shredder, meat grinder, juicer, and even a blender. There so many accessories I’m not going to name them all here. You can check out the full list online.

As I said, if you’re looking for an upgrade to your kitchen gear, check out the Ankarsrum Assistent Original, expect a learning curve, but your patience will be rewarded with delicious baked goods for years to come. Stay tuned for an update later this summer, where I’ll be checking out some of Ankarsrum’s most popular accessories as well as a review video, showing a lot of footage from my testing.

The Ankarsrum Assistent Original Stand Mixer sells for $699, and you can purchase it directly from the manufacturer.  

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: Ingeniously engineered; Strong motor; Large bowl; Kneads similar to human hands; Super-versatile, especially when taking accessories into account; Comes in a ton of different colors; Outstanding warranty protection; Timeless retro design

What Needs Improvement: There’s a learning curve; It’s a bit large, so it may be hard to find storage for it in a small kitchen

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/08/04/upgrade-your-kitchen-gear-with-the-ankarsrum-assistent-original-stand-mixer/

[thefaeriereview]

Blitz: Time and Tide

https://ift.tt/2CXZJeG

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Time and Tide: A Changing Tides Novel Book 2

Author and Publisher: Bryce Winters

Cover Artist: Resplendent Media

Release Date: July 31, 2020

Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Romance

Trope/s: Second Chance Romance

Themes: Wounded soldier, recovery, grief, rekindling love, forgiveness

Length: 77 000 words

Heat Rating: 4 flames 

The Changing Tides Series Book 3 will be available in late August.

Goodreads 

Book 1 - Rising Tide 

Buy Links

Book 1 - Rising Tide - Available on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US | Amazon UK Book 2 - Time and Tide - Available on Kindle Unlimited Amazon US | Amazon UK

  Lincoln Holt and Kent Scott, former lovers, find themselves thrust together again twelve years later after Linc comes home from the Army with an injury that Kent will be treating.

  Blurb The tides tore them apart… Lincoln Holt is a damn fine soldier - one of the best. But an ambush leaves Linc injured and many of his squad dead. Discharged and disillusioned, he heads back to the small town he’d once been desperate to leave. Then a physical therapy appointment brings him face to face with a grown-up, sexier version of the boy he had once loved, and Linc finds himself hoping against all hope for one more chance. Time kept them apart… Love doesn’t last. That’s Kent Scott’s belief after watching his mother bounce from husband to husband. His own short-lived affair with Linc is further proof – especially since Linc had left without saying goodbye. Kent had resolved to never let love dig its claws into him again. Then Linc lands in Kent’s clinic, looking taller, broader, and more gorgeous than ever, and Kent feels the pull. Time and tides renew… With every heady moment spent in Linc’s presence, Kent’s resolve weakens. But when Kent discovers a secret, all his doubts and fears come rushing back. The time and tides of life were once strong enough to keep them apart, but will love be enough to keep these forces at bay? Welcome to The Changing Tides Inn, the perfect getaway for those looking for a little romance. Time and Tide is the second 77 000 word novel documenting the inn’s (and owner’s) impact on the lives of its guests and can be read as a standalone. Follow the guests’ adventures and be assured there will always be a happily ever after. Excerpt Kent made his way to the door, laptop tucked under his arm, but before he could get far, Linc’s hand snatched his. Startled, Kent looked back at Linc, who looked confused as he stared at their hands. “Thank you, Kent,” Linc said after a long moment, dropping Kent’s hand. “This is the first time I’ve actually felt some relief since being home,” his voice trailed off, and he shrugged. “Just thank you.” “Of course,” Kent said, not knowing what else to say. “We’re going to get you better, Linc. But it isn’t going to be easy.” “You said that to me before,” Linc said, giving Kent a quick smile. “You’re probably not lying now either.” Kent blinked at Linc before remembering the talk they had in the library during their first meeting as tutor and tutee. Kent had lost his patience with Linc, who had been moaning about baseball practice and the games coming up and how he was wasting so much time studying math with Kent when he should be in the gym. Kent had told him then and there that unless he gave some effort toward his math homework, Linc wouldn’t be playing ball period. That had shut Linc up enough to listen. “It isn’t going to be easy,” Kent had said then. “But I guarantee that if you try, you’ll succeed.” Kent stiffened at the memory, even as he answered Linc’s smile with a nod. He needed to remain professional here, not take a stroll down memory lane. “You’re going to do fine,” Kent said. “Have a nice nap. If you need us, ring the bell on the cart.” With that, Kent snapped the light off and nearly ran from the room, leaving the door propped open so anybody could hear the bell. Kent heaved a sigh of relief as he made his way back out to the gym. The appointment was over. All Kent had to do was unhook Linc when he was done, type up his notes and submit them. That would hopefully be the end of his professional relationship with Linc. With the extent of his injuries, it was very likely that his boss, Nick, would take over the case. “Kent, how’d it go?” Nick asked, walking up to Kent from behind. Startled, Kent whipped around. Nick stood tall and wide, having been a college football star back before he decided physical therapy was his calling. He had his jacket on and a messenger bag slung over one shoulder. He must have just arrived. “Fine,” Kent said with a tight smile. “Linc’s been through a lot, but I think he’s stubborn enough to make a full recovery. Won’t be easy.” Kent gave him a quick rundown of his eval, emphasizing that he would write up the report for Nick’s review later. “Good work, Kent,” Nick said as they headed to the center desk. It was long, overlooking the gym, with connection hubs for each of the physical therapists’ laptops. None of them had private offices, instead choosing to work out in the middle of the action. Nick said it built a rapport with the patients and tech assistants, and it was always a good idea to have the physical therapists on hand for exercise questions that came up. Kent found he liked the busy atmosphere, finding a natural rhythm in preparing for a patient's arrival and writing up session notes while his patients completed their exercises. “I think he’ll be a great new patient for you. A challenge,” Nick continued. Kent froze in place, the words taking their sweet time to register fully in his brain. “What?” he asked, voice small. “Holt. I’m assigning him to you. Good luck.” With that, Nick turned his back to Kent and began to pull his own laptop from his bag, unaware that he had turned Kent’s world upside down.

       About the Author 

After reading no fewer than one million romance novels and earning her Master's of Arts in English and Creative Writing, Bryce finally mustered up the courage to write her own. Filled with love, laughter, and steamy scenes, Bryce's novels will welcome you deep into their pages.

​Happily married with three kitties, Bryce can most often be found reading, crocheting, or trying to master Crow Pose. Or her next batch of cookies. Could go either way.

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From Twenty Minute VC to 20VC, Harry Stebbings launches a micro VC off the back of his popular podcast

Podcasts are becoming big business — in part because of how well they can attract and keep audience at a time when so many other media formats are finding it hard to pin down that elusive metric of engagement. Now a podcast host who has built out a popular series around the world of startup investing is leveraging that growth to build out an investment vehicle of his own. Harry Stebbings, the 24-year-old London-based creator and host of Twenty Minute VC, is launching a micro VC fund of $8.3 million. Called 20VC, the plan is to invest in US startups across various stages alongside “tier 1” co-investors.

Stebbings spends a lot of his time talking to investors and about investments, and this is his second foray into actually putting money where his mouth is. He’s also a partner at Stride.vc, a firm he co-founded with Fred Destin in 2018 (joined later by a third partner, Pia d’Iribarne). He says that 20VC is scratching a different itch. The older fund focuses on investing in the UK and France, has an inclination (but not exclusivity) towards e-commerce disruptors and earlier stages of investment.

Stebbings’ newer effort, on the other hand, focuses on the US, and is positioned within what seems to be shaping up to a typical micro fund profile. Micro funds, as the name implies, are usually not huge, but they aim to pack a punch by offering other skills in the mix with their smaller investments. The concept has been growing in popularity over the last several years. (“I don’t know anyone who isn’t involved in at least one $5 million micro fund,” one former VC said to me.)

In the case of 20VC, it hopes to get its foot into the door on deals other VCs by offering Stebbings’ own set of skills in building and scaling companies as the selling point in exchange.

Typical deal sizes will range from $100,000 to $300,000 ($250,000 is the typical check size), and although Stebbings is announcing the fund today, some 12 investments have already been made out of it (Nex Health and Spiketrap are the only two that are public so far), investing alongside Sequoia, Index, Founders Fund, a16z.

20VC’s tie to the name of the podcast is intentional. The podcast has developed a brand of its own in the world of tech, with some 200,000 subscribers and 80 million downloads to date of the twice-weekly program. And 20VC isn’t just trading on Stebbings’ own experience as an entrepreneur: it has tapped the network of people that have been on the show, or know him because of the show, to assemble LPs.

There are some 64 of them in all, including founders and current and former execs from Atlassian, Yammer (David Sacks), Plaid (William Hockney), Superhuman, Airtable, Calm, Cazoo, Zenly, Alan, Spotify (Shakil Khan) and Tray.io; GPs from Kleiner (Mamoon Hamid), Social Capital (Chamath) Thrive (Josh Kushner & Miles Grimshaw), Atomic, Founders Fund (Brian Singerman), Coatue, Index (Danny Rimer), True Ventures (Phil Black), and Beezer Clarkson, among many others. Having a popular podcast that highlights interesting investors and startups turns out to be a good way of networking to build a fund. Stebbings said that the call out was oversubscribed three times over within four weeks.

Boy VC

Stebbings’ entry into the world of investing in startups is something of a typical startup story of its own.

He came up with the idea for his podcast at a time when he was already intrigued by the world of venture capital, but was actually on the road to something else, with a place as a law scholar at Kings College in London (in the US you start law school as an undergraduate).

He says started the podcast with the idea of working on something that interested him, but more specifically to make some money. His mother has multiple sclerosis and she was having issues paying for her healthcare. Stebbings decided to start the podcast use the money it made off advertising around it to help cover his mother’s medical bills.

He was a nobody in tech, but he had a very specific plan, and a lot of smiley and positive enthusiasm, for how to get from zero to hero.

It started with finding just the right first guest, someone who had a high profile and respect but also appeared to be nice enough that if you got the approach right, you might get an agreement to be interviewed, or as Stebbings described it, “low hanging fruit.”

For Stebbings, that person, it turned out, was Guy Kawasaki. In addition to getting the interview, Stebbings also asked Kawasaki for three recommendations of people he should have on the show next, and what he should ask them. Stebbings followed that up with asking those three for their recommendations, and so on. Pyramid scheme with purpose, I guess you could say.

“I view distribution quite scientifically,” said Stebbings — who I interviewed sitting in a bedroom, although I think he normally podcasts these days sitting in a studio as pictured, above. “I’m bringing as many people as possible to help in the content creation process.”

The whole format of “20 minutes” also stemmed from a calculation Stebbings made. He told me he used to struggle with his weight and finally managed to lose some pounds using Tim Ferriss’ 4-hour Body. It got him thinking about how timing is important, and on top of that he knew that the typical commute in London was around 30 minutes, and decided that 20 minutes was a reasonable amount of time to expect someone to listen regularly. (Spoiler: most of the podcasts these days are not 20 minutes, but longer.)

Things started to shift from interesting side hustle to main hustle after he featured Arielle Zuckerberg, Mark’s sister and a tech persona in her own right (she’s currently a partner at investment firm Coatue). That podcast saw 100,000 downloads, and all signs pointed to 20 Minute VC taking off. So he quit university to focus on the podcast full time. It was four weeks into his first term.

“I decided I love VC and all of this,” he said about his choice to drop out of school. “I decided that I’d rather have my shot at this than trying to live the life I didn’t want to live. It was a big decision. I was 18 and very unemployable at the time.”

As for his mother’s medical bills, they are still being paid for by the show, he said.

“There’s advertising at the beginning and end of the show. It’s fine, not lights out, but it pays for my mother’s healthcare and that’s all I need it to do.”

The show, and Stebbings himself, have benefitted from a perfect storm of circumstances to grow.

Podcasts have been around for years, but it’s only been in recent times that they have properly taken off in popularity. Leveraging mobile phones and apps for listening, they fit naturally into our multitasking, information-hungry routines; there is a huge variety out there, a podcast for every taste; and they’ve bettered the talk radio format by being there right when you need them. Having a very predictable program in that format — Stebbings’ show has been running twice a week, every week, for five years now — is not to be underestimated.

There is also the subject matter to consider. There has been a huge explosion in the role that technology is playing in our modern society and economy, and that has meant an audience that consists not just of those already working in the world of tech, but those with ambitions to be a part of it (like Stebbings himself), and simply a lot of enthusiasts.

Within that, venture capital has seen a veritable explosion of money, and while some believe that it’s the technical talent that fuels the startup engine, others would make a strong case for the funding that enables them to work holding that role. In any case, money has always held a lot of allure.

“VC is becoming more popular, and cool, and I think that had a lot to do with us getting to this size,” he said.

Stebbings himself is also a part of the formula. He’s not a journalist, and at a time when we seem to be seeing a lot of wariness and tension in the relationship between media and the tech industry, his position as an informal reporter and conduit of information and messaging, who remains friendly and non-combative with his guests, may see him getting a lot warmer of a reception from his target audience of guests and listeners.

Harry doesn’t seem to remember this, but I first met him several years ago, at a tech event in London, where he was working the room very smoothly, smiling and chatting and knowing enough people already that he was able to continue the momentum introducing himself and presuming familiarity with those he was just meeting for the first time. I remember being struck at the time by how young he was mingling amongst quite a lot of middle aged types.

When I recalled this and asked Stebbings if he ever felt like he’s found a place in this scene precisely for this reason — being around younger and flattering people sometimes makes older people feel less old, and possibly more important — he said he thought it was more that it’s about himself feeling natural in that environment.

“For me, it’s always about building relationships,” he said. “I was always like the 50 year old in the room when I was younger and I didn’t have many friends. I’ve made by best friends through the shows.”

Ironically, he says that these days he does get pinged by his older — that is, young and past — acquaintances who are hoping for connections to his powerful network to push whatever tech enterprise they are pursuing these days.

That’s not the only bit of irony in 20VC and Stebbings’ latest venture: the whole of his podcast was built from the ground up, funded by ads and not a penny of outside investment. It means that the lesson from Stebbings is not just how to grow and scale, but how to do so with no VC involvement at all.

That’s not the norm, however, and so this will be about bringing more along that proverbial check.

“Everyone in the valley has money, but very few have been part of an enterprise that has scaled to include contact machines and brands. I’ll have thousands of tips and lessons on scaling and customer acquisition costs. It’s about the cadence and distribution, and how ton build a brand.”

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