#laws great but I ultimately don’t enjoy it most of the time

[secretceremonials]

Not a day goes by where I don’t wish I was good at languages so I could do classics instead of law

[absolutebl]

This week in BL - I am all over the place, But Laws of Attraction is Phenomenal af

July 2023 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Thai Sat iQIYI) 1 of 8 - Icky picked it up but it’s not airing for me until Sundays so I held this post specifically to watch and talk about this show. Stars the pair from To Sir With Love with the same production team. IT’S SO GOOD Y’ALL. A morally corrupted trickster lawyer with a tragic past, sad eyes, and a beautiful smile that he uses like a weapon. Meets paladin martial arts instructor from other side of the tracks (who is out, at least to his baby sister). Corrupt police. Spoiled rich kid evil. Ambitious politician. Tragic death. Terrible subs.* This show is very like Manner of Death but so far it is a much better/tighter story. It’s NOT BL but it is fucking phenomenal. And you shoudl watch it. Not wait to binge it. WATCH IT. On a global scale this might be the best thing currently airing featuring gay romantic leads. Its really fucking good. It’s Lawless Lawyer but more complex character motivation and gay af. Fuck yes please and thank you. FINALLY. Triggers for violence, beatings, death & torture depicted on screen. Like MoD they are not holding back.  (* A lot of the familial names they are using are not gendered in Thai but translated as such, like “nephew”. This one is gonna go down a lot easier if you know some Thai.)

Step By Step (Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 12fin - 2 years pass and no one’s hairstyle changes? Srs. Them meeting again = hella AWKWARD. Both still pining & hurt. NO SINGING. The reconciliation scene was great. I enjoyed that on the “do over relationship” they went with phi/pom (instead of the super formal khuns). So cute and so much more relaxed. Also lots of neck kisses! Charming final ep. It’s only flaw being they dropped the side couple, but I wasn’t really into them anyway. Ultimately? This is what Boss & Babe should have been and could we please have Up lead out another BL? I miss him and he only gets prettier. Full review below.

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 12fin - I adore the tiny little baby GL thread that we almost got. And I wish we had had more of it throughout the show. The side couple turned out to be good too. Emotional crying kisses are my favorite. Sunshine netted himself an earnest serious romantic boy, we likey. As for the main couple? Well... Tai’s search story arc was dull and dragging in a final ep and it felt bloated and slow as a result. It was a good confession reunion with Tai figuring all of his shit out, not surprising but fine. Kind of a a weak final ep. Full review below. 

Hidden Agenda (Thai Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 1 of 12 - JoonDunk are back and we have all seen this a million times before, but Thailand never executed a successful formula it didn’t want to repeat a million times over, drunk bathroom and everything. Welcome (back) to Thai BL (and back and back and back). Basically they just added glasses, a new 1-shared-brain-cell friendship group, and different uni departments. Ah GMMTV, forever trying to recreate the magic of 2gether. But also I’m enjoying it. I’m a simple person. (Hi Jamie! Still in college since 2018 I see.) Anyone else notice that Chinese phrase that they did not translate for us? Mmm hum. Cute. Still... NO SINGING. 

Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 2 of 8 - Thames is in coma and getting slagged off on the socials. It’s moving a bit slowly but the premise is interesting despite the poor quality of the execution. 

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 3 of 8 eps - Major trigger for self harm depicted on screen in part 2/4. I skipped it. Then there is assault and verbal abuse. I told you Ultimate Troop is NOT to be trusted. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 2 of 12 - Look, I don’t really mind this show but I also don’t like second hand embarrassment and I sense a metric butt ton incoming.

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 8 of 12 - I was not best pleased with this episode. Ya’ll round the tumblr-sphere seem to be enjoying it but I have officially hit the wall on Kawi. There is not enough booze for me to cope with his shizz. I may be alone in this. But gotta say how I feel... Unlike him. Trash watch here.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 8 - Poor Ren, he feels compelled to take on the burden of protecting everyone from sexual assault because he blames himself. And he can’t even talk to his boyfriend about it. Oh fuck me the pair of shoes at the door. And neck kisses? TOO MUCH. Argh. Japan. Why must you hurt so good? 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) 3 of 10 eps - It’s a very cute show. All the tropes and archetypes with no fuss or attempts to be clever, just executing them (sometimes over and over again). Even hiccoughs as a result of flirting! I haven’t seen that one in ages. The show feels old fashioned as a result. Nostalgic. I’m good with that. 

Tie The Not (Pinoy YouTube) ep 6 of 8 - Sad boys still sad now drunk. (Noooooo shoes on bed! Argh.) Finally kisses! Also good ones for a large portion of this ep. Plus hair pulling. And verse rep! And after sex convo. Then side dishes have a whole proper gay ax covo about top/bottom. Everyone say thank you Philippines! get down with your queer selves! 

Stupid Genius (Vietnam Fri YouTube) ep 6fin - I believe this was the final episode. It was cute. This is a standard sort of semi-crappy VBL high school drama. Enjoyable in its floppy friendliness, weirdly like a queer after school special promoting education. Dead fish kisses but fine for what it is. 7/10 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) 2 of 12 eps - Activate cohabitation trope. They okay bfs. Minato not as frustrating this week, but still frustrating for me and Shin. Next week = cute outfits and dumb miscommunication yay!

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) ep 11 of 12 - again it didn’t show up on my dash in time for this. I’ll pop it into next week. 

It’s airing but ...

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

Stay (Pinoy YouTube) 7 eps - It’s mostly English & set in LA (shudder) so I’m not bothering.

Stay With Me ... NO I WILL NOT! And you can’t make me.

Ended This Week

Step By Step Series Review  

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL. That one flaw made it a 9/10 for me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

La Pluie Series Review

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL. By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core? But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication. However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10. I enjoyed it even as it made me think, so despite its flaws: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting:  

7/19 Wedding Plan (Thai Wed YouTube & iQIYI)  - It's Mame and she's coming for our GL. She's such a misogynist IMAGINE what we will get with a GL side dish? It's going to be absolute carnage. To crane your neck as you drive by the car wreck or not? That is the question. Me? I'm wallowing in the guts. Trying to decide to trash watch or not... 

7/20 Jun & Jun (Korea Thu Viki) - From 2022 I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT! So excited for this one. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

FYI roselle juice is made from hibiscus (a flower) so technically neither a tea nor a juice. (Hidden Agenda)

Tie the Not = all the verse rep this ep. I love this for them. 

The giggling was SO DAMN CUTE (Step by Step, na?) 

We all guessed it but it was still fun. (Stupid Genius) Also miracles of miracles, two actors who actually look like they could be brothers play brothers. 

First time I’ve seen faen translated as significant other. (Laws of Attraction)

THE PAIN! (Tokyo) 

(Last week.)

[multifandomfanficss]

More Than I’m Willing To Lose Part 1

Adrian Chase/Vigilante x Reader

Featuring platonic!11th Street Kids

Adrian Chase Masterlist

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Prompt: After Project Butterfly, ARGUS decided to make some new additions to the team. You and Adrian have been secretly, hopelessly in love with each other for a year now, but are unaware of the other person’s feelings. Tired of waiting for Adrian, you decide to go on a date with someone else that doesn’t end very well. This is Adrian x GN!Reader.

Warnings: Reader injury, mentions of vomit, gun violence, panic, hospitals, cannon typical Peacemaker violence and language

A/N: So funny story…I’ve actually had the first two chapters of this in my drafts since last August because I was afraid if I posted them I would never finish the fic. A year later I actually wrote two more chapters, even though this was originally only supposed to be three parts. The chapters are done, but are still going through some proofreading and light changes. I’m gonna post a chapter once a week. The original concept for this story was to write what I called at the time “the ultimate hurt/comfort”. The concept I started with was based on an episode of Criminal Minds, but it expanded overtime. I hope you guys enjoy!! ❤️🧜‍♂️❤️

You were happily kicking your feet back and fourth at the table waiting to be let go from the debriefing. After everything went down with the butterflies, ARGUS decided it would be best to expand their small Evergreen team. You were the first addition. They had planned on adding more, but after a year you were still waiting on a big enough mission to present itself for you to be assigned more muscle. Truth be told Harcourt, Adebayo, Vigilante, and Peacemaker could handle themselves. You were great help in the van when Economos needed it. An extra hand was always needed on computers and medical needs. You weren’t a fighter, but you still found your place on the team.

“What are you so happy about?” Adebayo asked in a chipper tone.

“I have a date tonight.” You say blushing. You hadn’t been on a date in a long time. Truth be told, you were holding out for a certain team member of yours, but you feared Adrian would never get the hint and ask you out, let alone even have feelings for you, so you were doing your best to move on. He sat up a little straighter in his chair and stayed uncharacteristically quite, but you didn’t really notice. You were preoccupied by thoughts about your date and questions from your teammates.

“You got a date? Who would wanna date you?” Chris laughs. You roll your eyes.

“A really hot guy! Who’s much cooler and better look than you!” You laugh back at him. You know he’s just teasing, but you can’t help, but feel just a little hurt. You push down the feeling.

“Where did you two meet?” Leota asks.

“At a bar. He walked up to me and we started talking. It was mostly about work, but I didn’t mind listening to him. His job sounded super interesting.” You tell them.

“What do you mean you talked about work? Your job is a secret.” Adrian finally spoke up.

“Well he actually did most of the talking. He doesn’t actually know anything about computers so I just rambled on about coding. He thinks I work as a computer specialist at Best Buy.” You laugh. Adrian’s face stays deadpan.

“What does he do for work?” He asks.

“He’s a lawyer, I think. I don’t know. I can’t really remember what kind of law he specializes in.” You say, hoping to end the conversation. His eyes bore into you.

“Well that’s very exciting and I hope you have fun, but not too much fun. We have to all have to be here at 9am tomorrow.” Harcourt reminds the team. Everybody groans. The meeting ends and you start walking to your car, but Adrian stops you.

“I don’t think you should go on that date.” Adrian starts.

“And why not?” You ask.

“I just have a bad feeling. I don’t think this guy is who he says he is. You barely know anything about him! What if he’s some sort of criminal?!” Adrian begs you to not go on the date. You can’t help, but begin to bubble with anger. This is the first date you’ve gone on in over a year thanks to Adrian and he doesn’t want you to go on this one and the only reason he can pull out of his ass is his stupid intuition? No. You’re going on that fucking date.

“I’m not who I say either. Does that make me dangerous? I appreciate your concern, but I’m going on the date, Adrian.” You say, before leaving him in the parking lot.

Maybe you should have listened to him. The date was nice, but if you were being honest you did feel like he was hiding something. You pushed down the feeling though because you knew you were hiding something too.

Your date Jack was nice enough. He paid for the date and walked you home. It wasn’t until you got home that you felt not just uneasy, but scared. You were walking up the stairs to your door when you heard a clicking noise. You worked around guns enough to know exactly what that sound was. You slowly turned around to confirm your suspicions.

“What are you doing?” You ask.

“Shut up. I’m the one asking the questions.” Jack says. You nod, feeling your breath catch in your throat. It isn’t often you’ve found yourself in trouble like this, but on the rare occasion this did happen your team was always there to keep you safe. Adrian was always there to keep you safe. A tear slipped down your cheek at the thought of Adrian. He told you not to go on this date and you didn’t listen to him. Now you were never going to see him again. “Where is the Task Force X headquarters?” He asks.

“What?” You ask.

“Come on, dumbass! I know you’re on their team. You’re going to tell me everything you know, including who Vigilante is and what you’re currently working on and you’re going to tell me quickly or else you’ll never see your team again.” He rambled, stepping closer, gun pointed at you.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” You cry and play dumb.

“You should really get better security on your home computers. Your computers at work are fine, but the second you got home and pulled out your little laptop, you were mine.” That’s when you stop dead in your tracks. You always do your work from headquarters. Always. Except for the day you worked from home sick.

“I don’t really need you. I could just take your laptop. I just thought this would be more fun. After all, the thrill came entirely from stringing you along. Burglary isn’t really my style and I didn’t really feel like taking the time to hack into your laptop. You were so eager to go out with me too. I barley had to ask.” He laughs before pulling the trigger. You feel a sharp pain in your shoulder and you fall to the ground with a scream, at least you think you screamed. You can’t hear anything over the ringing in your ears. You can’t move. All you can do is cry. You feel hands all over you, searching your pockets. Your keys are taken from you as you watch Jack break into your house. As quickly as he’s in, he’s out, laptop in hand. He’s got what he needs and now he’s going to leave you to die. The ringing starts to go down and you start to feel hands on your body again. You try to move, but cry out in pain. You clench your eyes shut in both fear and pain.

“Please don’t touch me. Please. Please get away from me. Please don’t hurt me anymore” You beg. You don’t know who is above you, but you just hope it isn’t Jack or whoever he may be working with.

“Shhh it’s gonna be okay. I’m here. It’s me. It’s Adrian.” You hear his calming voice and you open your tear stained eyes to see him above you in his Vigilante suit. Your steady stream of tears turns into sobs. You hear footsteps approaching quickly and you start to hyperventilate.

“Peacemaker!” Adrian calls over his shoulder. When you realize it’s just Chris you calm down a little. “We need to get them help.” Adrian says, voice quivering.

“What happened?” Chris asks in shock.

“You were right.” You cry out, taking a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have gone on the date. You were both right. Who would want to go on a date with me? I should have known.” You hiccup through your cries. Chris stiffens.

“Hey, don’t talk like that! We need to go get them help.” Adrian says. You let go of any tears you were previously holding back.

“Please don’t leave me!” You cry. Adrian weaves one hand through your hair and the other holds your cheek as he lightly brushes his thumb across your skin.

“I promise I’ll never leave you. Peacemaker’s gonna go get my car.” Adrian promises.

“I am?” Chris asks.

“Yes, you are dude.” Adrian says, tossing him his keys. Chris runs a couple blocks to the car.

“I’m sorry.” You whine after your sobs subside a little.

“Why are you sorry?” Adrian asks.

“I didn’t listen to you. I should have listened to-“

“No, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Adrian cuts you off. Your eyes start to feel heavy.

“Hey, stay with me. Stay awake.” He shakes you lightly.

“I’m so tired. Adrian, I’m so scared. Am I going to die?” You ask him. You think you might faintly hear the car pulling up.

“No, I’m not going to let that happen. Peacemaker’s here. We’re going to take you to the hospital. This is going to hurt, okay?” Adrian asks. You nod and brace yourself, but when he picks you up you don’t think you could have prepared yourself for that kind of pain. You scream and grip his arms, chest, neck- anything you can hold onto.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Adrian rambles out a spew of apologies. Chris hits the gas pedal as soon as you are in the back seat with Adrian.

“I feel like I’m gonna be sick.” You whine.

“It’s okay. You can get sick if you need to. I won’t be upset with you.” Adrian secretly cringes at the thought of you throwing up in his car, but he knows you can’t help it.

“Actually can you try to hold it in because if you get sick, I’ll get sick and I can’t drive and throw up.” Chris requests. Adrian gives him a death glare from the rear view mirror. The two speed to the only hospital they know they can go to, the hospital they all went to after the final fight with the butterflies. The staff is less than happy to see Vigilante and Peacemaker walk back in, but they already know what the two men look like under the mask and the helmet, so it was the safest place to go. When you arrive you’re immediately placed on a bed and rolled away.

“No, I need him! Please!” You scream as you’re hauled away from Adrian. You don’t know wether to call him Adrian or Vigilante because your consciousness is slipping and you can’t remember what he’s dressed as, you just know you need him by your side. The nurses hold you down.

“Don’t move. You’re going to make things worse. He’ll be in the waiting room until you’re out of surgery.” The nurse promised. It broke Adrian’s heart to hear you cry for him and not be able to run to you, but he knew if he interfered that it would only take them longer to help you. The truth was he was scared too. He had never been this scared before. He had never felt like this in his life. He realized he was now also on the verge of throwing up.

“They’re gonna be fine.” Chris promised, placing a had on Adrian’s shoulder. He wasn’t 100% confident, but Adrian didn’t need to know that.

By the time you woke up, the whole team was there and Adrian was in his street clothes again. You saw everyone standing outside the waiting room talking while Adrian slept in a chair with his head against your mattress. You couldn’t really understand what they were saying so you just tuned them out. Instead you focused on Adrian’s breathing and his soft messy curls. You traced each curl with your eyes to calm yourself.

Outside your room the team was talking about you and, little did you know, Adrian.

“I’ve never seen him like this before. I’ve never seen him care so much about someone.” Chris starts.

“I thought he didn’t have emotions.” Economos questions.

“Everyone has emotions, even Adrian.” Adebayo added.

“It’s true. I’ve seen him cry before.” Harcourt added her two cents. They all give her a look.

“But can we at least agree he’s being MORE emotional than usual?” Economos asks. They all nod.

Back in the room you decide to start playing with Adrian’s hair. He jolts awake, only to realize it’s just you and he relaxes into your fingers. He then fully realizes it’s you again and practically jumps out of his seat.

“You’re awake! I’m so thankful that Peacemaker and I were patrolling that area and heard the gun shot. Never do anything like that to me ever again!” Adrian exclaims.

“I’m sorry.” You apologize.

“Don’t be sorry. Just don’t do it again.” Adrian sighs, taking your hand in his. The rest of the team must have heard your conversation because they start to shuffle in.

“Hey, kid.” Chris says softly. You always hated that nickname when you started to work with the team, but you had grown to love it. It was given to you because you were the youngest on the team. You were a few years younger than Adrian making you over 10 years younger than Chris.

“How are you feeling?” Adebayo asks.

“Not so hot.” You make an effort at a laugh. You grip Adrian’s hand a little tighter unintentionally and he gives your hand back a squeeze to remind you he’s there. It’s hard to feel all of the spotlight on you. You can’t help, but feel like you’ve fucked up badly. John shifts uncomfortably where he stands.

“I’m gonna head back the van. I’ll be on coms when you get what you need.” Economos starts to head out.

“What do you need?” You ask.

“Could you give us some privacy?” Harcourt asks for the room. Chris and Adebayo leave to stand outside the door. Adrian reluctantly stands up, but you don’t let go of his hand. It’s embarrassing how you hear your heart monitor increase at the thought of him leaving you again. Harcourt must sense or literally hear your panic, despite trying to keep it down.

“Chase can stay if you want.” She says. You nod and he sits back down. Your heartbeat falls into a steady pace when he starts to rub his thumb against your hand.

“I need to ask you a few questions. They might be kind of hard to answer, but it‘s very important you answer them to keep yourself and the rest of us safe. You can take a break at any time.” She tells you and you nod. The first questions she asked were about Jack’s appearance. It was easy to describe hair color, but when you had to go more into detail it almost felt like you were back there with him. Your heart monitor increased again. You felt a tear slip down your cheek. You avoided looking at Adrian. You should have listened to him when he told you not to go on the date. You then went into detail on what he was looking for and what he asked you. By the end you were crying so hard you could barely get out the words.

“I think they should take a break.” Adrian told Harcourt.

“No, I have to keep going.” You told him.

“No, you don’t (Y/N). You can take a break.” She tells you.

“I have to keep going. It was my fault. First I didn’t check to make sure my connection was secure on my laptop and then I went on a date with him even though you said I shouldn’t. I should have believed you and Chris. Why would a guy like me? It’s my fault. He said I made it easy.” You cry.

“It’s not your fault. Chris was just being an asshole. You are worthy of attention from guys. It’s not your fault you try to see the best in people. Hell, I wonder what you see in me and why you’re my friend everyday.” Adrian says. Truth be told you see much more in Adrian than you’ve ever told him. You think you might love him, but you know you can’t say that. You can’t handle the rejection right now.

“I’m going to go out to the van. I think John’s got something.” She informs you. You forgot they were wearing coms and you weren’t. It was odd to not have their voices in your ear.

After everyone is gone you look back to Adrian.

“Hey Adrian, can I ask you a favor?” You ask.

“I’ll do literally anything for you.” You smile at him.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to…” You trail off, embarrassed by your request.

“What is it? Whatever it is, I’ll do it.” Adrian says, very adamant on helping you.

“Can you lay in bed with me and hold me?” You ask quietly. He smiles.

“Move over.” He instructs you as he helps you settle into the other side of the bed. He takes off his shoes and slowly climbs in, sliding his arms around you. You place your head on his chest so you can hear his heartbeat. You start to drift off to sleep to the sound of his heartbeat and the feeling of his chest rising and falling with his breath.

“I promise I’m never going to let anything like this happen again. I’m going to keep you safe. I’ll make this right. I love you.” He says as you fade away. He must have thought you were already sleeping. You would respond if you didn’t feel so heavy. You’re not even sure if you heard him right. You could just be high on pain meds. You probably just imagined it.

[moviemunchies]

I have never played a Warcraft game in my life, but I had a friend who played WoW when this came out, and we saw it in theaters.

Time for a re-watch!

Warcraft explains the origin of the conflict between the Alliance (led by the humans) and the Horde (led by orcs). As their world is dying, the orcs, led by the sorcerer Gul’dam, launch an invasion force to the world of Azeroth. As Gul’dam’s magic, the Fel, drains life, they’re taking captives, concerning the human kingdom based in Stormwind, and their military leader, Lothar (the King’s brother-in-law), to launch an investigation and try to find a way to stop the orcs. Meanwhile, the orc chieftain of one of the clans, Durotan, is uncomfortable with the Fel’s effects on his fellow orcs and the dishonorable warfare on helpless combatants for hostage sacrifices.

Between Lothar and Durotan, and the half-orc Garona, can they find a way to avert war and make peace?

[A clue: no.]

Fun fact: Uwe Boll, director of terrible video game film adaptations, tried to buy the rights to make a Warcraft film. Blizzard straightforwardly told him that they had no intention of selling him, specifically, the film rights.

This movie introduces a lot of information to the viewer, if they’re not already in the know about Warcraft. I’ve seen complaints that it’s way too confusing for newcomers; I don’t know if that’s true, because I was a newcomer and I mostly followed it okay. My WoW-playing friend said they changed a lot so that knowledge of the games doesn’t really matter. I don’t know about that! Either way, I think we’re in a weird state where some people feel if they aren’t spoon fed information and backstory, they’ll mark it as difficult to understand.

Still, some things are unclear to me. Like, okay, Stormwind is the capital of this human kingdom; what’s the actual name of the kingdom? And the Guardian–at times he seems to be referred to as protecting the kingdom, specifically, though other times it’s like his job is protecting all of Azeroth (which I believe is the name of the world, not the continent, correct?). Also, the elves and dwarves are allies with the human kingdom–why aren’t they doing anything in this movie? Other than the dwarves apparently supplying firearms.

I also think that the movie hews too closely to the aesthetic of the Warcraft games in some ways. It’s good that they want to copy the look of the games so that it’s obviously connected to them, but some of the armor and designs look… not great in live-action. The thing that comes to mind is the elves’ eyebrows, which look absolutely ridiculous in a live-action medium.  That being said, it does look cool to see that game world translated onto the screen. I remember wondering how they’d do it, and being pleasantly surprised with most of what I saw. The magic and creatures mostly look pretty awesome. And it’s cool to see a fantasy film of this scale out there.

So much of this movie feels like setup, though, and that’s frustrating, especially as there haven’t been any sequels. Plenty of hints abound throughout the story as to what could be coming, and presumably that makes sense if you know the game world. To me, though, a casual viewer, these glimpses into a longer history don’t do much other than cut out time that could be dedicated to developing these characters and storylines in front of me.

Ultimately, it’s fine, as a movie–not great, but fine. I enjoyed it, and I like that it’s a big-budget fantasy film that introduced me to a new world. New to me, anyhow. I don’t know how this appeals to fans of the games; to non-fans, I think it’s alright if you want something fun, though there are certainly better fantasy films out there.

[syms-things-5]

Alive & Well - Chapter One

Part Three of ‘Fractured

Part One can be found here and Part Two here

Synopsis: Continuing on a few months after the move to Maine, and starting with fresh eyes, Sarah and Chris are certainly making the most of their newfound freedom.

Warnings: Language, sexual language in places. 

Tags: Just following on from Part Two - thank you for the support :) @ppal3​ @bookwormchick91 @redhairedfeistynerd​ @memoriesat30​ @patzammit @before-we-get-started​

CHAPTER ONE

“It was really beautiful, Audrey.” Sarah smiled fondly at her friend. “You should be very proud of yourselves.”

Audrey could feel the relief wash over her as she wrapped an arm tightly around Michael’s waist, leaning her head ever so slightly onto his hefty shoulder as far as she could reach.

“It’s just nice to see everyone again for a happier occasion.”

Sarah held Ben in her arms as he toyed with the teardrop pendant of her necklace, pulling on it occasionally when trying and put it in his mouth. His cute 3-piece suit had long since been discarded in favour of cute, sailor print pjs thanks to his earlier decision of splattering tomato soup everywhere. Michael and Chris had found the whole incident hilarious of course because, well, men, but Sarah felt awful when she spied Audrey looking like she was close to tears. Planning the whole event had seen such a source of anxiety for her over recent weeks that she couldn’t allow herself to enjoy even so much as a piece of cake during the afternoon.

It had taken Audrey and Michael a long, long effort to get to this point. Celebrating Ben’s baptism in one long, love-filled and fun weekend was supposed to be a time of great happiness and enjoyment but alas.

The stress was thanks in no small part to a family falling-out some weeks earlier. Michael’s mother, Margaret, was not the easiest person to get along with, Sarah knew as much from the brief instances they happened to be in the same room together, but when you put her frankness in front of Audrey’s decisiveness, well, it’s not so much sparks that fly as full-on hand grenades.

No amount of calm energy that Sarah attempted to bring to proceedings did much to assuage Audrey from ultimately deciding to disinvite her mother-in-law altogether and Sarah didn’t doubt the heartache from such a choice. If they had to guess, Michael was almost relieved as well. It was a fair point, Sarah thought; no one should tell you how to raise your own child.

As a result, Ben’s baptism was a much smaller and more intimate affair than Audrey had originally intended it be. Not that that was a bad thing. Sarah knew the fight had been upsetting but those in attendance were making the best of efforts all things considered. Chris was certainly getting into festivities when the whisky and cigars made an appearance curtesy of Michael’s younger brother, Jack. But the glaring omission of Michael’s feisty mother was more than obvious.

“If it’s any consolation, my mom once changed my nephew’s school outfit without telling my sister.” Chris offered. Bless him, Sarah thought. He was trying. “All hell broke loose.”

Chris positively bristled at the memory. Sarah and Audrey exchanged knowing glances.

Oh, to be a man. 

 *

If there was one tiny, insignificant thing Sarah could have changed about the proceedings from the day, it would be the amount of food she ended up consuming. And enjoying. Like, really enjoying. There was also wine, and lots of it, and a honeyed whisky aura that Chris had been emanating for the last hour or so as they made their way back to the hotel. His sweet breath in her face as they rode the lift to the top floor should not have been as appealing as it turned out to be.

Audrey certainly knew how to throw a party for her friends. Judging by the way Chris collapsed on to the end of the bed when they finally arrived back at the hotel, he appeared to agree.

“I don’t think I’m gonna make that swim in the morning.” Sarah called out from the bathroom.

She leaned one hand on the counter and attempted to remove the straps from her heels so she could relieve her feet from the stress of the day.

“Well, you know how I feel about swimming.” Called Chris from his position on the bed, just slightly out of Sarah’s view. “Why would you want to get up at such a ridiculous hour anyway when you could just stay in bed with me and eat waffles?”

It was a valid question, all things considered, and one she proceeded to give serious thought to as the second shoe landed on the tiled floor with a clunk. If she never had to wear heels again, she thought, it’d be too soon.

“Besides,” His voice got a little louder as he approached her. “You have an amazing body; you don’t need swimming. In fact, you don’t need anything. You just need me. I’ll keep you fit.”

He winked at her and she smiled gratefully as he leaned towards her and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

“Be that as it may, I need to figure something out eventually. I can’t just lounge around the house all day waiting for you to come home.” She retorted, only half joking.

“You’re not lounging around. You’re decorating and making the place look beautiful. I mean, it’s already beautiful just by having you in it but all the other stuff is great, too.”

All the other stuff.

Sounds about right. Yes, that had been the grand sum of the past five months apparently: stuff. It wasn’t meant to be a dig of course, she knew that, but she also felt it sting her a little more than she would openly admit to in the current setting.

Chris had made it abundantly clear that she didn’t need to rush to find a new job, or new studies, or a new…anything. She could take her time. Rest up and enjoy life on the picturesque coasts of Maine. She could stay in her pyjamas all day every day if she wanted to. He just enjoyed them both being in their new house together at the same time.

He enjoyed figuring out layouts for different rooms, and colour schemes, and then choosing random swatches of material without giving them a serious thought. He’d never particularly enjoyed that before but it was different when it was with someone you were making a home with. He could absolutely get on board with interior design in a heartbeat or even carpentry although the new tool station that magically appeared in their garage a few weeks back caused Sarah a small pang of concern.

But he was also aware of where her head was it. Very aware in fact of how she was feeling deep down. Stuff like this always made her feel uncomfortable. Relying on people as she called it, relying on anyone for anything was a massive hurdle she had yet to overcome and no amount of support from her partner would make any sort of difference to that creeping feeling of…uselessness. It was getting more pronounced as the weeks rolled by.

For as long as she could remember, it wasn’t that she always had a job exactly but more that she always had a plan. She always had something to work towards, an end goal, a win, a challenge. Simply put, she didn’t like not doing anything. Chris had jokingly called her an ‘over-achiever’ during dinner one night a few weeks after they had first moved in and while he meant it with a great deal of admiration, it unwittingly led to their biggest argument to date. The second-hand embarrassment about that night that Sarah continued to feel to this day was the worst. It wasn’t something either of them wanted to repeat.

She paused for a moment, considering how to respond while he was stood eying her up from her side.

“We’re pretty much done now, though, so it would be good for me to figure out my next steps. Audrey reckons they’d snap me up at Lincoln, if I wanted to look into it eventually.”

“Yeh but what’s the rush, though? When was the last time you took a really good break from things? I thought you enjoyed all of this moving in with me stuff.”

She tilted her head sympathetically and turned to face him.

“God, I really have, but I can’t keep expecting you to pay for everything.”

“You absolutely fucking can!” His eyes lit up with childlike excitement at the prospect. “Money’s money. You’re looking after us in different ways that are much more valuable.”

“No, Chris. I appreciate what you’re saying but I don’t like not contributing” She said it with a tone that displayed more annoyance than she intended it to. “Audrey knows someone at Lincoln College and they’re looking for teachers as it happens. Plus, I could do most of the teacher training aspect online so that would probably cut down on the travel in the early days.”

“This sounds an awful lot like you’ve figured this all out already. Without me.”

“Not really.” She quickly glossed over the last part. “It’s just been in the back of my mind lately. And I actually think I’d enjoy teaching for a little while. You know, pass on my wisdom or whatever.”

For a moment, she felt her attempt at humour fall flat on the floor besides them and she didn’t know how to rescue the situation.

“You have a lot of wisdom.” He murmured after a quiet moment, trying to get himself on board as much as he could.

She turned to look at him again, gratefully.

“Thank you.”

“They’ll be lucky to have you.”

She smiled again, casting her eyes down as she felt her cheeks heat up. 

“Well, we don’t know who “they” are yet, so, you’re probably stuck with me a little while longer.”

His smile finally reached his eyes.

“Good. I’m glad about that.”

“What if you get sick of me, though?” She joshed with him.

“Doubtful.” He answered without missing a beat and not appreciating her joke even though he knew she wasn’t being fully serious. “It’s just that…we went from finding days and weekends here and there, just trying to find a little bit of time to be together, to this wonderful now where we get to do it all of the time and honestly, it’s fuckin’ awesome.”

He really was a giant kid.

“And I’m not just talking about the sex either.” He continued, causing Sarah to bubble out a giggle. “Although that definitely gets an honourary mention. But the other stuff, too, like cooking together and that time we argued about blinds. I genuinely did not know that mundane crap could be so much fun. I don’t wanna lose that, Sarah. I don’t want to be like those couples that end up being like ships passing in the night or whatever the frig that phrase is.”

He was seemingly in his feels now and she wished he didn’t have to be half a bottle of whisky in to tell her this stuff but, regardless, it was touching to know he felt that way.

“We’re not going to be like that. We might have periods where it feels like that,” she noticed the concerned furrow in his brow. “But I think we can be sensible about it and still make time for each other. It won’t feel as bad in the end.”

He pursed his lips as he watched her remove the last remnants of make-up from around her eyes.

“Y’know, we could always….” He drifted off quietly before finishing the sentence.

She glanced at his reflection in the mirror as she reached for another a make-up wipe, waiting for him to finish his thought.

“Could always what?” she asked after a few more seconds of silence that seemed to last longer than she anticipated.

He rolled his eyes to the top of his head, clearly thinking about approaching the subject that had been playing on his mind longer than he would admit to if asked outright.

“You see how happy Audrey and Michael are, right? Do you ever think about getting one of those?”

“One of…? A baby?”

“…Yeh.”

He seemed almost shocked when the word finally left his mouth. It just hung there between the two of them, waiting for one of them to catch it and run with it. While it wasn’t altogether unpleasant by any means, it was certainly not how she expected this conversation or weekend to end.

“Um, I mean, yeh, I guess. One day. Yeh, that would be lovely. It just wasn’t on my immediate radar is all.” She said calmly before registering that this was Chris who had brought it up and if there was one thing she knew about men, pretty much the only thing she knew about men, it was to pay close attention to them when they started talking about babies. “Wait, is it on yours?”

“God, yeh! I love kids, always have, but there’s just something about you and having kids with you that just really gets me going, y‘know?”

Was he trying to have a serious conversation with her about their future, or was he coming onto her? She supposed the two weren’t mutually exclusive where procreation was concerned.

“Right. Well, that’s…OK.” She briefly floundered with her make-up wipe and could feel her heart beating faster in her chest. It was like nerves before an exam only louder and she could feel it start to affect her breathing as well. It was a little uncomfortable if she was being completely honest. “Cool.”

“But only when you’re ready.” He proposed, a little too quickly. “I just want to make that clear. I’m not saying that just because we’re relaxing now and spending all of this time together that we should start trying or thinking about trying straight away. Not at all. There is absolutely no pressure.”

Oh, right. OK. That helps.

“And babies take, like, nine months to grow and stuff and there’s never a guarantee that you get pregnant as soon as you start trying so really, we could be talking years into the future. Like, two or three years or something.” His words seemed to tumble out of his mouth but sounded confident nonetheless.

“Yeh, that’s one hundred per cent.” It was the best she could offer him.

“I just mean that we’ll do this in good time. Our time. We’ve got lots of time.” He added, as though he could read her mind. “They always say that making a baby is the fun part anyway, right? And let’s face it, we’ll be really good at the fun part.”

An awkward, nervous huff of a laugh left her mouth involuntarily. Make-up wipe still clutched tightly in her hand and her beautiful, hopeful boyfriend standing in front of her, she was at a complete loss as to what to do now. Should she hug him? Maybe do a jig?

“Cool.” He said, nodding quickly, clearly recognising his turn to mask the silence.

He smiled at her, kissed the tip of her nose, and turned to go back into their bedroom.

“Wait-” he turned back equally as quickly. He scratched at his forehead, creases around his eyes displaying the panic that had suddenly set in. “You’re OK, right?”

“Yeh, course.”

“I don’t wanna freak you out. I’ve freaked you out, haven’t I?”

“No, not at all.” She protested. “I just wasn’t expecting to have this talk in the bathroom of a hotel is all. But there’s nothing wrong with that. We both like kids so we’re on the same page there which is the main thing.”

“Yeh, but I also didn’t want you thinking that I had a calendar in my pocket or something, or was asking Audrey questions about changing diapers and shit.” He worried again. “’Cos, again, that is such a way into the future for us, I’m not even thinking that far ahead or anything.”

He waved his arm wildly in front of her as if to prove a point of time. It was kind of cute, how he always tried to put her mind at ease, always making sure she was comfortable and happy and enjoying life and not, say, inadvertently causing her to have heart palpitations.

“Yeh, no, I know. I get what you’re saying.”

He nodded again but his wariness had already set in and now he was feeling like a tool.

“Chris, you need to calm down, alright?” She started again. “It’s fine. Like you said, it’ll all probably happen in good time.”

She took a step towards him and placed her hands gently on his face. She felt him relax under her touch and returned a soft kiss to his lips.

“OK?”

He closed his eyes, nodding a little, and ran his hands up her arms as she held onto his face.

“Oh God…” He sighed with disappointment.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just…I really wanna have sex with you now but I don’t want you to think it’s a ruse or something.”

She giggled at his utter ridiculousness. He laughed, too, and the atmosphere in the room felt somewhat soothed.

“We can still do that.” She whispered.

“Yeh?”

“Yeh.”

*

[ofsunjae]

heyoo it's m (eileen's mun) back w a brand new muse that i'm rly excited to write & develop! u can find a summary abt him under the cut & hit the heart or msg me if you'd like to plot! i have some ideas at the end but am always down to brainstorm something together

₊˙ ◌⁎˚ ﹒﹙kim dongyoung ‘doyoung’. cis male. he/him.﹚guess who was almost late for their shift at lapis roasters again?? that’s right, it was lee sunjae! it’s a wonder their job as an owner isn’t in jeopardy. the 27 year old has been working at sunset galleria for two and a half years, and is well known for their empathetic nature. on bad days, they can be rather reserved, though. when the mall is dead at night, they can usually be found smoking on the rooftop, but don’t tell their boss!

EARLY LIFE (mentions of low self worth tw)

his STATS page has a lot more basic tidbits about him so feel free to skim thru that for more details

born in seoul on jan 9th, 1996 (cap sun, leo moon & virgo rising <;3)

sunjae's family own a group of hospitals so they're Rich rich lmao but more on that later. he also has an older sister!

he's lived sort of a rich life and not just by financial standards- from the ages of 8 - 17 he was a junior tennis player! and he pursued it pretty seriously, he trained in poland for two years and spain for 10 months, winning several big tournaments. this meant he was mainly out of classes/privately tutored & didn't rly have a lot of friends aside from his core besties. he travelled w his mom so they've always been close, and she was his biggest supporter

tennis was p much consuming his life and although he enjoyed it for the most part, the pressure from his coaches and himself rly got him into a weird spiral. his negative self talk & feelings of worthlessness ultimately cost him a couple of games and he kinda had a breakdown & lost passion for the sport he once loved.

anywys mom was kinda sad abt his withdrawal but she still supported him, dad less so bc of how much money they put towards his career & all the clubs/training but whatever. we ball.

POST TENNIS LIFE & CAREER

ok he's dropped tennis.. naow what... realizing he doesn't rly know what to do w his life & his grades? aren't great so he ends up travelling w his sister for a bit bc she wants to help him get out of his funk.

ultimately decides to enlist to 1) buy himself some time to think 2) rumours abt draft envasion were running around the rich family circles & he didn't want his family to deal w that

sunjae gets caught up on reading lots during his service & returns with a new goal! enroll in uni and get a bachelors in international relations. he has to work hard to study but uni years were much needed to just.. round him out as a person n be around so many new people n jst be some college kid !!

fast forward he's 25 with a degree & still kinda lost lmao! his sister who opened and ran a coffee shop (hint: sunset's very own lapis roasters) has a newborn baby and wants to rly focus on being a mom so she's like hey.. wna run this business for me while i'm gone? :) and it's been two & half years of sunjae as the owner. (it's sweet tho bc on their travels together they always bonded over good coffee and sunjae could tell she's rly passionate abt it so he gives it his all)

now he's 27 and still running lapis, it's good for him but unless you know him closely you wouldn't know he's the owner. acts like he's just another coffee roaster or barista

recently he's pursuing the idea of becoming a human rights lawyer & in his first year at a law school in daegu after a long trial of applying. sunjae's decided that even tho he's unsure exactly what his path will be, he wants to help people whether that's by fighting for them in court or just serving them the best cup of coffee they've ever had :)

PERSONALILTY & DETAILS

loosely inspired by ren from f4 thailand.. v observent of other people's feelings & can be so selfless that it's a flaw at times. putting everyone first & always quietly taking care of people in his own ways, covering the bill for dinner or just lending an ear. the type to rmbr the little details in a conversation w stranger and bring them up if they ever saw each other again

wld Die for his friends.. his homies.. the leo loyalty will be the death of him bc even if his friends get in a stupid brawl u know he's jumping in to defend them. loves to go out w them but doesn't drink much so he's always the dd & 'yes we'll get mcdonalds drive thru on the way home jst get in the car'

there's still a goofy side to him,, kinda like his inner child bc his youth was spent being consumed in sport so he loves teasing friends, using a shorter person's head as an arm rest, pulling harmless pranks etc etc

even tho sunjae grew up rich he never rly showed off his money n u prob wouldn't know abt his wealth until u see that he drives an audi r8 but again he doesn't make a big deal out of it tht's simply his car of choice LOL

knows how to play piano! prob sneaks a couples songs in at lunar flare when there's no one around

developed a smoking habit somewhere down the line that's been hard to kick but he tries to keep it more of a secret (sneaking up late on the rooftop)

PLOTS

rich kid squad: also loosely inspired by the squad from f4 thailand.. the people he grew up with bc their families were friends/attended the same rich people events lol. his found home rly, the kind of friends he would die for and they've been thru thick & thin together over the years - lots of dynamic possibilities here !!

designated driver: the guy u call when u need a way home, could be friends or could be that he happened to be driving one night and sees u walking drunk?? offers to give u a ride

sports/fitness pal: either someone he can hit with bc he still has the tennis skills (esp his killer serve) or someone to go bouldering/hiking with. alternatively someone he's teaching tennis to !

fellow weeb: the new shinkai movie is out... he's calling u up to join him. or simply chill anime watch parties at his place. snacks included

landlord: unbeknowst to u sunjae owns the small apartment building u live in.. maybe u openly complain abt the water pressure & magically it gets fixed the next day (he bought the building bc he got a load of inheritance & his dad said real estate is the best investment but truly he jst wants his tenants happy)

fake boyfriend: either for a day or an event or to make someone jealous he pretends to be ur boyfriend & he's p good at it.. humbles whoever u were trying to trick

confidant: someone who was screaming their sorrows off the rooftop when he went up for a smoke & then they ended up having a conversation and have been bumping into each other there ever since

almost lovers: the timing was just never right.. maybe he loved them too soon and they loved him too late or something else was stopping them from becoming what they wanted to be :/

something based off this :( maybe someone who was there when he was spiralling & cared a lot for him or just ends up being super upset on his behalf

random thoughts: someone taking advantage of his kindness or money / someone he's teaching to drive / someone he knows from church / friends from uni / little sibling figure!! / bad influence on him / mutual dislike or hateship / exes or past flings / childhood friend who always slept over at his + anything else we think of!

[awkwarddystopianwarlord]

Far Encounters of the Third Space

Where do you go when your shift has ended and the school bell is rung, but your house is a disaster getting renovated, your visiting extended family is a nightmare, your dog isn’t trained where to poop yet and leaves his mark all over the floor? When the places you have to be like school and work suck and the home you go to at the end of the day isn’t suitable, what do you do in the between time, the weekends, the days off? Where do you and your mates gossip and get your sillies out? 

Third spaces have been disappearing. The spaces where interaction with friends, other humans, self, and the world are fading away and it’s a problem. We need community and exposure to life outside our homes, schools, and workplaces. We need to be able to cross paths with strangers that can become friends. We need an escape from our obligations and responsibilities. We need somewhere to go to fully be ourselves and run into others who are like us. But we don’t really have anywhere to go. For multiple reasons too. 

A lot of us are working because we live in a capitalist hellscape and need fifteen jobs to buy a single bell pepper. We don’t have time to go anywhere else even if there were places. By the time work has finished, we’re absolutely bushed. There are only so many hours in a day and things are only open so late so it’s a losing situation for a lot of us.

As for everyone else who does have the time, they be left with few options. Especially if you lack a lot of spare funds. Our museum here used to be by donation, it’s not anymore. The aquarium on the mainland is like fifty dollars. Malls are desolate in some places. And if you go to any joint with food just to chat, you’re loitering. Libraries are great except you have to be quiet. Arcades, bowling alleys, skating rinks are solid options but how many people have those? How easy is it to get to them? Parks are perfect if the weather favors you. But, like, remember Blockbuster?

Having Blockbuster enter my brain really pushed me to write this because it was such a good encapsulation of a third space. You could just peruse and chat and chill and it was basically a library but the volume was dialed up a bit. Movie rental places were wonderful. There was one where I used to live and the woman who owned it was a gem. There was human connection there. She recommended movies to her customers who she knew well enough to believe they would enjoy them. I’ve no idea how many movies and shows she said my family should try, but I am almost certain, most of them were hits. Bookstores are also great for this, but I think because it’s books, we assume library laws apply and it’s to be quiet. It’s places like those though, where people can run into other people and find out common tastes in a completely organic way. We don’t have enough of that. Board Game cafes come close I think, but from what I’ve seen, most people go in from the beginning with their own mates and a lot of games can only have so many players. When I go with friends, we only go when we know there’s a decent number of us for ultimate game play convenience. If we were to meet others, it would already be incredibly crowded. Grand place though to go specifically with your friend group as an activity, I will say. Just not as great for solo folk or wee crews. 

We just need more “hangout like” spots in our civilizations that don’t cost an arm and a leg or don’t throw you out for not purchasing anything. I live in such a touristy city and there are so many potential places I could go except for the fact that I’m poor. We have a bug zoo here! An indoor zoo of just bugs! And it’s great, but I don’t have thirty dollars to spend each time I want to go. If we had more chill cafe-esque things like the board game cafe, that would be a start. There could be a book cafe that isn’t whispery. There could be more cat or bunny cafes. Maybe some indoor public markets that are fun to wander around and window shop. And I’ve thought recently about indoor public parks and gardens for when the weather gets shit. And can we PLEASE bring back movie rental stores because streaming services are becoming no better than cable and raising their prices and are downright sinful at this point. Also seating in food establishments! The mall where I work has horrible seating in the food court, but I’ve also seen that places like McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Tim Horton’s have been revamping their interiors to have very little seating. I know that where I live specifically, we have a lot of sketchy douchebags and gangs of youths that hang around and make a mess of everything so making it less appealing to stay in there isn’t unreasonable. Though putting a stop to the douchebaggery and tomfoolery seems to be the more sturdy solution but that’s another conversation. 

We live in a weird age right now where technology seems to be consuming us and few seem to be happy about it but no one has any escape plan. We need our brick and mortar shops more than ever. We need our malls to flourish again. We need physical gathering places that don’t require anything other than you just being in the location. We were already losing touch with one another and the pandemic only exacerbated that and we need to go backwards a bit. We need to rekindle our humanity and we need to rebuild the safe places in which that can be done.

[belovedcorvid]

“For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been given to us, the ultimate, the final problem and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation.” ♥

❣︎ 𝓑𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓭 𝓒𝓸𝓻𝓿𝓲𝓭 :: an independent, head-canon driven, semi-selective portrayal of Donquixote Rocinante - code name Corazón - from Eiichiro Oda's One Piece. 18+, please read rules prior to reaching out. Loved to Death by Rabbit / Rory (31, he/him). Explores themes of:

defining love and family; breaking cycles of violence; sacrifice for others; how trauma lingers; defining the self outside of the expectations of others; and careful plans breaking apart.

❣︎ EST October 2023 - Remodeled July 2024

❣︎ 𝓐𝓯𝓯𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓼 ::

gumpistol / cptnslog | mingos / code01746 | sleeplesswork | aamaranthiine | onepiecc | intothewildsea | ryathenautykitsune

❣︎ | Meme Tag | Verses ( Mobile Friendly ) | Portrayal Notes | Promo | Thread Tracker |

❣︎ 𝓜𝓸𝓫𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓡𝓾𝓵𝓮𝓼 𝓤𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝓒𝓾𝓽 ::

| mun |

Rabbit (or Rory) :: he/him :: 31 :: someplace in the northern US Activity Level :: Low and Random ( medical field + chronic illness )  I’ve written intermittently on Tumblr for the last 10-ish(?) years, so if we’ve met before then it’s great to see you again! If we’ve never met, then it’s nice to meet you! I like getting to know the people I write with, so hit me up if you’d like. In my spare time when I’m not doing this, I enjoy TTRPGs and building miniatures.  I’m probably sick right now.

-

| speed and posting style |

Anyone who’s played with me before knows that I’m the slowest guy. I used to worry over this a lot, but this most recent bout with illness has made me re-evaluate how I want to look at time here and stress about this less. I’m going to answer things when I can and keep a tracker so I can see everything and not drop things on accident, but I’m going to treat it less like a deadline. If you want to carry on a thing and don’t mind if I take weeks, let’s do it! If you prefer a partner that’s quicker, I’m not the guy for you.

I tend to write multi-paragraph style, with small text but otherwise minimal formatting. I use icons sometimes, but not always. If you would prefer I use normal text size / no images / etc, let me know - I can accommodate these things. 

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| breadth of work |

One Piece is huge - I’m not fully caught up, but I am through Rocinante’s bit! I’m still very sad we only got to have him around for a little while, and may or may not make verses to explore alternatives to that.

But! If you want to chat about the manga or the anime in general, I’m all about it.

-

| fundamentals |

I’m not even sure if it’s necessary to add any more, but of course: it’s not cool to godmod, control other people’s characters, kill each other without discussing combat first, badger people for speedy replies, engage in callout culture, etc. Please be a nice human.

Not interested in interacting with people that engage in racist or homophobic / aphobic behaviour. Also not interested in looking at ships for this character that involve incest or large age gaps. I will not write Doffy and Cora as a romantic relationship, and I will not write Cora and Law or any similarly aged characters that way either.

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| tags and content warnings |

I will always, always, always tag triggers for you, especially if you list them in your rules page. If I miss one, or if you’d like me to tag something new, shoot me a message so I can add it to my tags! Violence and other NSFW content types will always be tagged and thrown under a cut.

Triggers for me: Please tag all images of dental injuries with ‘teeth tw’ or something similar. I have just about every iteration blacklisted. Additionally, please tag all content involving a/b/o threads/art/etc and, for lack of a less loaded word, ‘x humanoid character has/gets/is ‘cursed’ with x animal traits/whatever now’ threads/etc as well. I have just about every iteration of both of these blacklisted (I think). Any general a/b/o tag will work just fine; for the latter, I suggest ‘animal traits tw’ or ‘zoomorphism tw’. If you post this that’s fine, but I might not be able to follow you. Deeply personal reasons for me as an individual and as a professional / animal advocate - For clarity: hybrid or shapeshifter characters that actively deal with their hybridity and its consequences are not the same thing. I have a problem when humans put on animal characteristics like costumes for aesthetic purposes / kink / amusement / etc.

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| shipping |

Writer and character are both of age, so shipping is fine as long as the other character and writer are of age as well. I will not write with underage muns at all, full stop.

I don’t really foresee myself shipping this character much, but if we’ve interacted and you ship a thing, whether it be romantic or platonic, you should let me know. I usually can’t see that sort of thing.

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| asks |

Asks are neat. I try to answer them all, but again : I’m a slow guy and Tumblr eats them sometimes. If I can’t come up with a good response for what you sent me, I’ll let you know so we can do something else instead.

If I answered an ask of yours and you’d like to respond / make it a thread, that’s awesome! I just ask that you put your reply in a new thread and @ me rather than reblogging the original ask.

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| memes |

I have a complicated relationship with writing games. I love them in concept and love getting to send my friends things and answer questions / draw prompts / etc, but the havoc they bring to my notes can make it impossible for me to run a blog. Please don’t reblog memes from me if you don’t follow me, or if we don’t interact - makes it too easy to lose replies when notes are a mess.

[juliosswisslitblog]

Reflections on a Year of Reading Swiss Literature

It is a dream of mine to travel to Switzerland, but I still have a long way to go until I reach such a dream. For now, I can content myself with traveling in Switzerland through books. In the book “Slow Train to Switzerland” by Diccon Bewes, we get to experience a little bit of the country through his writing. Geographically speaking, the book is very descriptive. He visited Mount Blanc, one of the highest mountains in Europe, and the Mer de Glace, a glacier that has been slowly defrosting over time, and he also visited the Alps, the most extensive chains of mountains in Europe.The country is also filled with lakes and beautiful scenery; you can enter Switzerland from any direction, and you are still going to be blessed with a spectacular view. I already had background knowledge about Switzerland's geography, as I planned on traveling there, but it was really interesting to see how much the country had changed from the time the book was written until now.

Switzerland has always been a country with a rich history; it is located at the heart of Europe after all, and Bewes did not disappoint when it came to teaching us of whatever part of the country he was traveling. For example, Kandersteg, a small village, had a population of only 455, but due to a new tunnel that was built, the population literally exploded to 3554 only ten years later (Swiss people also love celebrating newly built tunnels). Diccon also explains the birth of some holidays, like the one in St. Moritz, where some British guests were dared to see if they would enjoy St. Moritz in the winter all well, and if they didn't, they would get a refund of their whole travel. They did enjoy it, and in fact, they came back for more, which began the annual winter British Invasion of the Alps.

The different cultures between countries is what makes traveling so thrilling; it is like visiting a new small “planet” per se, and Switzerland is no different. Patients in the municipality of Leukerbad would sit up to 10 hours a day in Leukerbad’s hot baths to cure diseases and infirmities, and more surprisingly (or not), they did get better. Holidays in Switzerland are treated as Sundays, which are treasured as a day of rest—not really praying and going to church but more spending time with family and friends and resting. Shops are also all closed on Sundays, and most of them don’t open until 9 a.m. Swiss people really value their own time, and they have a great work-life balance compared to the rest of the countries in Europe.

Time is a weird concept; it was a way for humans to try and fit something unseen into something more manageable. It is undeniable that time is important; it uttermostly brings order, and order is the law of nature. The book Einstein's Dreams plays a lot with the concept of time and how it is important to life itself. Without time, human life would make no sense. Imagine having to live forever; there would be no reason to learn another language, to try hard at school, or to find someone you love because ultimately you would have infinity time, so it could always be done later. But since our time on this planet is counted, we always try to make the most that we can before we eventually die.

I had two major takeaways from reading Slow Train to Switzerland and Einstein’s Dreams. First, I really want to travel to Switzerland even more now. I am going to make whatever arrangements I can in the future to go there, even if I am on my deathbed. Secondly, it is to let it go; I do not have to keep it holding in my heart for longer than it needs. “Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone (Einstein’s Dreams, Alan Lightman). This quote can be interpreted in various ways, but for me, it is to not let things hold you back longer than they need to, or you are going to end up stuck alone in past memories.

WC:698

Books: Slow Train to Switzerland by Diccon Bewes, Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman.

[ajoytobeheld]

Top Thirteen Films of 2011 (in no particular order)

January 7th, 2012

BRIDESMAIDS

Oh Kristen Wiig where have you been all my cinematic life?  Your representation of female friendships was bitterweet and your impersonation of a penis was accurate.

DRIVE

Any other director then Nicolas Winding Refn and any other actor then Ryan Gosling and this film could have been directed by Tony Scott and staring Nicholas Cage or Liam Neeson. What a hideous thought. That lift/elevator scene is one of the best things I have seen all year, and I saw a man fit through a tennis racquet.

If this list was in any notable order this would definetely be top.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

My first of two Tom Hiddleston films. Pure coincidence. I swear. I really enjoyed the sentiment of this Woody Allen film. A love letter to the literary and cultural greats he admires so feverishly and (you suspect) continually tries to emulate. And Adrian Brody makes a great Dali. It is a nice little dedication to his inspirations and I loved loved watching his interpretations of the personal lives of the great writers from the days of yore. Like Grazia for the readers digest crowd.

THE TREE OF LIFE

Terence Malick can be called many things (mostly by Sean Penn) but unambitious is certainly not one of them. This beautifully flawed film (perfection is sooo overated) manages to cover some pretty big themes (God, morality, the loss of innocence and creation of the universal to name but a few) in a relatively normal running time and introduces us to the talent and luminance that is Jessica Chastain. (Look at her being all the embodiment of Grace and that)

I thought it was at its best when the camera quietly and beautifully observed the relationship between the brothers and parents, like a wonderful hazy memory played in the minds eye of Sean Penn’s troubled architect, and at its worst when the overly earnest voiceovers kicked in. I could have done without those dinosaurs too…. Ultimately it is a far more interesting film thematically and visually then many others that came out last year, even if Sean Penn had no idea what as going on.

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU

Not the best plot, nor the best film but the best chemistry I have seen between too actors (Emily Blunt and Matt Damon) all year. Genuinely elevated the film for me to something particularly special.

Watch it and have fun with it you. Have most fun with the bit where they can travel through magical doors that don’t bend to the laws of physics, but only if they are wearing Trilby’s.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

An Australian film about a dysfunctional crime family that both terrifies and disturbs with acting and camera work that is never hysterical or overplayed, just considered and very well done. Jacki Weaver gives a masterclass in acting as a truly terrifying matriarch who makes Joe Pesci look like a de clawed puppy dog with no testicles. Her Oscar nom was very well deserved.

A LIFE IN THE DAY

80,0000 people submitted videos to youtube showing the mundane and interesting events that occurred to them on July 24 2010 and Ridley Scott, Kevin Macdonald and Joe Walker edited it together into a documentary. It produces a smorgasboard of emotions and you can watch it here FOR FREE (what else are you going to be doing? Making some kind of sandwich?)

WORLD’S GREATEST DAD

Weird and dark and mental and made by the guy with the squeaky voice in Police Academy. Robin Williams stars as the father of a throughly unpleasant boy who makes his sons terminal asphyxia wank look like a suicide making him an unlikely poster boy for a mis understood generation.

THE DEEP BLUE SEA

A very British affair with Rachel Weiz as a post war lady who surrenders herself to the tragedy of romantic love but with a steely determination and a stiff upper lip. It felt like a play, but a really good one.

MELANCHOLIA

The first time I saw this film I got motion sickness and had to leave the cinema, the second time I sat further back and closed my eyes for the first ten minutes. Its ending left me in a state of complete and utter despair, confusion and flux. I thank Lars Von Tier for this reaction. The opposite of apathy. The opposite of comfort. The opposite of “meh.”

KILL LIST

This British film about two hit mens “last job” made me feel sick and unnerved for a good long while. Part Coronation Street and Part Wicker man, it’s a very hard piece not to wake up sweating about in the middle of the night.

ANOTHER EARTH

A low budget sci fi film that isn’t really about sci fi but the chance we all have at redemption. Or something like that. Written by and starring Brit Marling, it uses some fairly dodgy science to explore the idea of parallel universes but in a very personal way. The last two minutes are totally killer too.

SENNA

Senna is composed solely from archive footage thus The Academy have ruled it out as a best documentary contender. FOOLS. It is a excellent film about brazilian Formula 1 racing car driver Ayrton Senna, and his triple world championship winning ways and hopefully the much more sensible BAFTA team will give it the recognition it deserves.

Other Notable Contenders

Thor (This film was a monkey barral load of fun, thanks Kenneth and thanks Tom Hiddlestone and OMG AVENGERS! AM I RIGHT?) We Need to Talk about Kevin The Skin I Live In Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Hugo Super 8 Beginners Rise of the Planet of the Apes

and the less said about X Men the better.

Ellen x

[project1939]

Day 41- Film: Scaramouche 

Release date: June 27th, 1952. 

Studio: MGM 

Genre: Action/Adventure 

Director:  George Sidney 

Producer: Carey Wilson 

Actors: Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh, Mel Ferrer 

Plot Summary: We follow the adventures of Andre Moreau in pre-revolutionary France as he searches out his biological father, runs from the law with revolutionary friend Phileppe, tries to avenge Phileppe’s death at the hands of the Marquis de Maynes, hides out as famous comedian Scaramouch, and woos two different women. 

My Rating (out of five stars): ***½ 

It took me awhile to really get into this movie, but once I did, I enjoyed it. It was the kind of light-hearted colorful historical epic you would expect from 1950s Hollywood. Flashy and splashy but not overly complex in terms of character or nuance. And certainly not overly concerned with historical accuracy! Some spoilers ahead. 

The Good: 

The fencing! The fencing! If there is one thing that elevates this film and makes it worth checking out, it’s the sword fighting. There’s lots of it, and it is all convincing and well-staged. (Except for the speed at which blood spurts out of people when they get slashed!) The actors all did pretty extensive training to learn how to make it realistic, and it shows. The sword fight at the end of the movie is the longest in Hollywood history, as far as I know. 

This kind of goes with the above, but I absolutely loved the fact that the long swordfight at the end of the film had no non-diegetic music. The only sounds we heard were the swishes and clangs the swords made, the gasps of the crowd watching them, and the grunts from the two men as they battled with each other. It heightened the drama so much for me. 

Mel Ferrer. He is one of my favorite actors of the time period. He’s so good at playing wounded sensitive brooding people! In this he was generally a bad guy, but I still loved him more than the actual hero! 

Eleanor Parker. I always think of her as the Baroness in The Sound of Music, but in this movie she really stole my heart. She was just so captivating to watch at every moment- she was by far the most interesting female character in the film. Her luscious long red hair looked great as well. It was wonderful to see a woman who didn’t have a short tightly styled 1950s poodle cut! 

I liked part of the ending. The fact that they didn’t kill the Marquis de Maynes made me really happy. I was dreading Mel Ferrer’s death and knew it must be coming. When he was spared, I was legitimately satisfied and relieved. It also made the end more interesting and unusual. 

Janet Leigh was better in this than I expected. Her character was pretty boring, though. 

The light-hearted vibe of the whole film. The film was just good fun, and it didn’t take itself too seriously. 

The bad: 

The incest? I know it ultimately wasn’t really incest because Granger and Leigh turned out not to be brother and sister. But when you spend almost the entire movie believing they are, it’s hard to turn off the disgust switch when they suddenly get married at the end! I just did not like it at all. 

Granger got a little grating after a while. Maybe some of the stories I’ve heard about what a difficult person he was bled into my opinion of his character, but I didn’t totally like him. He seemed to be trying too hard to be devil-may-care charming. He was certainly hot, though, if you like the hunk-of-man-meat type. 

Historical accuracy! Costumes were especially loosely authentic to say the least. But you don’t really expect a 1950s Hollywood epic to be especially historically accurate. 

The plot could be overly tangled at times, and it took awhile for me to fully get into it. 

And again, why did Granger have to marry Leigh? 

[princeofgod-2021]

LIGHT OF LIFE 335

John 1:4

WHERE WE MUST DRAW LINES 17 – SHEEP AND GOATS 1

Mat 25:31-33 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. The people of every nation will be gathered in front of him. HE WILL SEPARATE THEM AS A SHEPHERD SEPARATES THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS. HE WILL PUT THE SHEEP ON HIS RIGHT BUT THE GOATS ON HIS LEFT.GW

This is the last of these Subtopics and deliberate.

Here we see a Line that will be drawn, not here on earth, but at the Judgment seat of Christ.

Here on earth, some of the differences God has marked will not be obvious, and so, we would think we are ONE and headed the same way.

Mat 13:29-30 "He answered, 'No, because WHEN YOU PULL UP THE WEEDS, YOU MIGHT ALSO PULL UP THE WHEAT. LET THE WEEDS AND THE WHEAT GROW TOGETHER UNTIL THE HARVEST TIME. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: FIRST, GATHER THE WEEDS AND TIE THEM TOGETHER TO BE BURNED. THEN GATHER THE WHEAT AND BRING IT TO MY BARN.'" ERV

We see the ills and degeneracy of the present Church, but even as we pray about it steadily, we see God seeming to care less and doing nothing.

Well, it’s partly because He doesn’t want the good plants to be adversely affected by His purge. He would even allow most to think they are okay.

1Ti 5:24-25 Some people get caught in their sins right away, even before the time of judgment. BUT OTHER PEOPLE'S SINS DON'T SHOW UP UNTIL LATER. It is the same with good deeds. SOME ARE EASILY SEEN, BUT NONE OF THEM CAN BE HIDDEN. CEV

There are evil deeds that none may see, while there’ll be those seen but no judgment. Similarly, there are good deeds no one may see now, but ultimately, true judgement will reveal all.

God doesn’t want our services wrongly motivated, but from sincere and dedicated hearts.

For instance, if you are so committed just because you saw God bless a committed Christian, such service is unsound.

Ecc 8:11-12 WHY DO PEOPLE COMMIT CRIMES SO READILY? BECAUSE CRIME IS NOT PUNISHED QUICKLY ENOUGH. A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say: "If you obey God, everything will be all right, GNB

A sinner may commit 100 sins and live long, but it doesn’t mean he gets away with it.

If God punishes us so frequently and fast over sin, then our commitment to Him will be based on fear of punishment but not Love and Respect.

Every service will now become superficial.

Meanwhile, we are supposed to know Right from Wrong by our Conscience and the Word of God, which are sufficient.

Psa 19:7,8,11 THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT, CONVERTING THE SOUL: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD IS PURE, ENLIGHTENING THE EYES… MOREOVER BY THEM IS THY SERVANT WARNED: and in keeping of them there is great reward. KJV

Because of these factors and misunderstandings, some of us are so unlearned about GRACE.

We are sinning, yet God rarely punishes us; He even blesses us and hears our prayers, so we suppose our sins don’t matter.

Rom 6:1-2 SO WHAT DO WE DO, THEN? DO WE PERSIST IN SIN SO THAT GOD’S KINDNESS AND GRACE WILL INCREASE? What a terrible thought! We have died to sin once and for all, as a dead man passes away from this life. So how could we live under sin’s rule a moment longer? TPT

Miracles still flourish amongst us, and even the sinful seem to enjoy more than the righteous.

The righteous, whom God regularly puts through serious TRAINING and as such, has chosen not to bless yet, could even be mocked by the carefree sinners.

Psa 42:2-3 My soul thirsts for the living God. When can I go to meet with him? Instead of food, I HAVE ONLY TEARS DAY AND NIGHT, AS MY ENEMIES LAUGH AT ME AND SAY, "WHERE IS YOUR GOD?" ERV

I’ve said before, many Christians today, call the elder brother of the Prodigal Son dumb because he also should have asked for something.

The young boy went and wasted everything he got in vanity, yet returned to enjoy the fatted calf and fine coats.

Do you see the catch?

So, we are encouraging ourselves to life free and wild, then return to hide under the canopy of Grace?

Sick!

Gal 6:7-8 YOU CANNOT FOOL GOD, SO DON'T MAKE A FOOL OF YOURSELF! YOU WILL HARVEST WHAT YOU PLANT. If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life. CEV

I say again and again: the Prodigal Son may have returned and was celebrated, but he only has his place as SON; he has no more inheritance to claim.

Someone disagreed clearly and I know those are the kind of Christians that want to “eat their cakes and still have it”.

Jokers!

Luk 15:31 And he said to him, SON, YOU ARE WITH ME AT ALL TIMES, AND ALL I HAVE IS YOURS. BBE

Apart from having all, God points out: there’s special recognition for the one who never left home.

We may be many, but we all know from scriptures that God knows those who belong to Him, right?

2Ti 2:19 However, God’s solid foundation remains standing, bearing this seal: “THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS,” and “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must TURN AWAY FROM EVIL.” NET

So, while we are “enjoying liberty” here and doing what we like, we better be sure where we stand.

2Co 13:5 EXAMINE YOURSELVES TO SEE WHETHER YOU ARE STILL IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. Test yourselves! Don't you recognize that you are people in whom Jesus Christ lives? COULD IT BE THAT YOU'RE FAILING THE TEST? GW

If you’re “conflicted” about GRACE and you keep saying [by faith] that you are a “king’s kid”, how would you ever know if you are unacceptable to God?

May God open our eyes, in Jesus name.

Join us on Wednesday for more digging into scriptures and peruse of this intriguing subtopic.

Keep Shinning!

Brother Prince

Monday, April 03, 2023

08055125517; 08023904307

[dmss-blog-salian]

Blog Post - 08

Why Realism in Games Isn’t Everything

As technology continues to progress, one of the things that most of us agree on is that games are becoming very, very photorealistic. Gone are the days when a game was just a few pixels on a screen. Today, it’s all about being “ultra-immersive” and “life-like”. Some of these games are basically movies.

When we begin to discuss the topic of realism in games, there are generally two schools of thought. The first agrees that games need to be as realistic as possible and the second thinks realism is overrated. I tend to fall in the latter group of thinkers. Realism, to me, is a bit too overrated and completely unnecessary.

However, my views don’t stem from my philosophical leanings on art and realism. My views here are actually a bit pragmatic. Let me break it down for you.

It’s All About Feel

Yes, realism can be great in games. But, I’d argue that there is more to a game than just realism. Your game can replicate or simulate reality exactly as it is but if it doesn’t offer a great game feel, then there’s really no point.

Games were primarily developed as a source of entertainment and fun. I would argue that this still remains the ultimate purpose.

Let’s take the example of sports games like FIFA. Yes, over the years, the various iterations of the football game have only become progressively more “real”. But, is that really the reason why we play FIFA?

At the end of the day, even a child knows that FIFA isn’t an actual game of football being played in an actual stadium. The gamer here is more than aware that it is all a simulation – simply an illusion. So, why is FIFA still selling like hot cakes?

Well, it’s about game feel. It’s that tactile sensation derived from being able to control a digital entity or person. The ability to transfer one’s intent into the character is what makes a game fun.

Realism Requires Too Much Effort and Energy

Those ultra-realistic worlds and characters are great to look at but do you know just how impractical they are? The sheer amount of energy and effort needed to just move a character requires a whole battalion of developers and tons of monetary resources. 

Why spend all of that when you can make a memorable game with just good gameplay, narrative, plot, character arcs etc.?

To make things worse, there will come a time when all that effort will be meaningless. As technologies develop, what is realistic today won’t be realistic tomorrow. The hunger for more detail will only grow but a game with good gameplay or narrative will still sell, no matter what.

Realism Can Be a Hindrance

Reality has rules. For instance, you can’t jump of an aircraft from 30,000 feet and land on your feet. The physical laws that govern material reality will simply not allow for that. Now, imagine a game where the completion of the objective is hindered by it’s own realism? Doesn’t sound fun, right?

You see, games, like other forms of art, offer us the chance to escape reality. That’s what makes them fun. Games like GTA or Need for Speed are fun because you can drive cars on a busy street at nonsensical speeds. Something you’d never be able to do in the real word, at least not without inviting some serious trouble.

That brings me to...

Road Rash – 0% Realism. 100% Fun

If you were a 90s kid, especially one that grew up in India, there were a few game titles that you most likely played and enjoyed. Road Rash was definitely one of them. In fact, it was my favourite at the time and still remains special to me.

The game, which was released in 1991, was an addiction for many children in India. So, what made it fun? Realism? Not at all. There was absolutely no realism in this game, visually or otherwise. I mean, we’re talking about a game from the 90s. The entire game was about 5mb in size. So, you get the point.

What actually made the game fun and makes it fun even today is the aspect of vicariousness. As disturbing as it sounds, my peers and I enjoyed carrying out criminal activities within the game. We enjoyed it because we knew we could never do something like that in the real world. I lived as a criminal via the characters I played. It gave me a rush, but also made me feel secure in that I knew I was simply playing a game. Nobody was actually being hurt and no crime was really being committed.

In fact, that’s my point – too much realism in a game can be a threat to fun. Games allows us to live vicariously through their fictional and unreal nature.

What Does This Mean for My Practice?

So, as expressed above, I do not feel that realism is something that needs to be prioritized in game development. As a game designer, I believe there are tons of other elements, such as story, plot or gameplay, that can go a long way into making a game stand out. If that wasn’t the case, many of the hottest selling titles today wouldn’t sell at all.

Sources:

ForeverGeek. (2019). Why Video Games Should Abandon Realistic Graphics. [online] Available at: https://www.forevergeek.com/why-video-games-should-abandon-realistic-graphics/.

www.spokesman.com. (n.d.). Game On: Video games don’t need to look realistic | The Spokesman-Review. [online] Available at: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/mar/17/game-on-video-games-dont-need-to-look-realistic/ [Accessed 31 Dec. 2022].

Game Development Stack Exchange. (n.d.). non photorealistic - Why do people like `realistic’ physics and graphics in games? [online] Available at: https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/20040/why-do-people-like-realistic-physics-and-graphics-in-games.

Holman, L. (2020). Realism Drags Down Video Game Design. [online] CBR. Available at: https://www.cbr.com/realism-drags-down-video-game-design/ [Accessed 31 Dec. 2022].

Destructoid. (2021). Sometimes games that are realistic...are worse. [online] Available at: https://www.destructoid.com/sometimes-realistic-games-are-worse/ [Accessed 31 Dec. 2022].

Wikipedia. (2022). Road Rash. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Rash [Accessed 10 Jan. 2023].

[uchihabbynic]

Trafalgar Law - Relationship, Intimacy & Sex HC

warnings: NSFW at the end and I definitely got super carried away 😮‍💨 🥵

a/n: I am so obsessed with this man, i just kinda spiraled here so I need others to indulge in this with me 🥺💗 Also, I’d love to hear others’ HC’s of this pretty, grumpy boyyy!

For Law to entertain a romantic relationship to begin with, you’d most likely need to start as childhood friends, crew mates or an ally (being a part of the Strawhats Crew for example). 

He’d appreciate the full package of beauty, brains and strength (beauty being less important but if you happen to be gorgeous AND can hold your own in a fight or have an intellectual conversation with him - you have his heart) 💗

Being in an intimate relationship with Law would mean you’d definitely need to work for it. The first aspect being that you gain his trust because being close/intimate with anyone is terrifying and quite frankly, Law’s scared to get attached to someone. (Poor baby has been through so much loss and trauma that he would need an insane amount of therapy to even begin to unpack all of it). 

Next, you’d prove to him that you’re loyal and supportive till the end. Naturally, he’s going to be apprehensive about being in a relationship and wants to ensure you’re there for the long-haul. He’s not used to all these feelings and romance shit so reassurance will be necessary - especially in the beginning stages.

If Law has a crush on you, don’t think for a second that he’ll speak up about it. He’ll take that shit to his grave UNLESS you’re both put in a life or death situation where he worries that he may never see you again, otherwise - expect to be forward and direct with your feelings for Law if you want things to go anywhere. 

However, beware - because Law would 100% pull the “I’m not ready for a relationship” card & this could be for a number of reasons: #1 being obvious - he’s a well known, highly sought after Pirate who lives a dangerous day to day life and he doesn't know when one day could be his last but #2 there would be some anxiety around just simply being a good partner to you. He knows his trauma has hardened his heart a bit, causing him to come off as a bit cold and closed off but at the end of the day, Law wants to be everything you need him to be. He wants to give you the best but would feel unsure if he’s deserving of you.

Overall, Law would be a great partner to have once you’ve broken down those walls because he’s super level headed, intelligent, cares deeply for his loved ones and will always make you feel protected! Plus, he’s hot as hell - so there’s also that. 

(NSFW)

First of all, you’ll never catch Law fucking a random no matter how much he may wanna get his dick wet. Naturally, he’s not the most horny of the One Piece men, but if the urge hits him, he’ll find some alone time late at night on the Polar Tang to quickly jerk one off before attempting to get some sleep. Basically, committed relationships are the only time he’ll let himself be vulnerable in that way with anyone else. 

 If you’re fortunate enough to be his lover, you will thoroughly enjoy the sex as Law will take such great care of you & leave you wonderfully surprised. Sometimes, you can expect fast, rough fucking where Law overstimulates & abuses your pussy but he’s also someone who enjoys slow, passionate sex as well. In fact, he actually prefers to slow things down as it's like the ultimate, most intimate form of bonding with his partner. 

After a long night in the office, he seeks you out to relieve some built up tension. Law feels like he’s floating on a cloud when he gets to bury himself inside of your glistening folds. You watch his beautiful face contort - slowly crumbling above you, trying to stifle his moans as he bottoms out, savoring how good you feel squeezing around his length. 

Law isn't the kinkiest at first. He’ll start out pretty vanilla until you let him know its ok to spice things up. Medical role play, dumbification (he has a slight superiority complex), and choking (he loves to see his tattooed fingers wrapped around your throat) are all things that would turn the “Surgeon of Death” on.

Doesn’t mind quickies but doesn't really prefer it. He likes to take his time making a mess of you on his cock or fingers. 

Law loves when you ride him - either tracing your fingers over the ink on his chest and or interlocking your fingers with his. Regardless, the Doctor is in for a treat. He’ll enjoy watching your tits bounce in his face, hearing your ass slap against his thighs and even the lewdness of your pussy squelching as you bounce on his cock. As Law looks down and sees the juices of your arousal coat his shaft, at this point - he’s close; whimpering and begging for you to milk him dry. This rewards him with the best combo of visual + physical stimulation so you’ll have him cumming loads in no time. 

Tags: @unsuretater-simp , @hoeronoa-zoro​ ✨❤️

[continuations]

The World After Capital in 64 Theses

Over the weekend I tweeted out a summary of my book The World After Capital in 64 theses. Here they are in one place:

The Industrial Age is 20+ years past its expiration date, following a long decline that started in the 1970s.

Mainstream politicians have propped up the Industrial Age through incremental reforms that are simply pushing out the inevitable collapse.

The lack of a positive vision for what comes after the Industrial Age has created a narrative vacuum exploited by nihilist forces such as Trump and ISIS.

The failure to enact radical changes is based on vastly underestimating the importance of digital technology, which is not simply another set of Industrial Age machines.

Digital technology has two unique characteristics not found in any prior human technology: zero marginal cost and universality of computation.

Our existing approaches to regulation of markets, dissemination of information, education and more are based on the no longer valid assumption of positive marginal cost.

Our beliefs about the role of labor in production and work as a source of purpose are incompatible with the ability of computers to carry out ever more sophisticated computations (and to do so ultimately at zero marginal cost).

Digital technology represents as profound a shift in human capabilities as the invention of agriculture and the discovery of science, each of which resulted in a new age for humanity.

The two prior transitions, from the Forager Age to the Agrarian Age and from the Agrarian Age to the Industrial Age resulted in humanity changing almost everything about how individuals live and societies function, including changes in religion.

Inventing the next age, will require nothing short of changing everything yet again.

We can, if we make the right choices now, set ourselves on a path to the Knowledge Age which will allow humanity to overcome the climate crisis and to broadly enjoy the benefits of automation.

Choosing a path into the future requires understanding the nature of the transition we are facing and coming to terms with what it means to be human.

New technology enlarges the “space of the possible,” which then contains both good and bad outcomes. This has been true starting from the earliest human technology: fire can be used to cook and heat, but also to wage war.

Technological breakthroughs shift the binding constraint. For foraging tribes it was food. For agrarian societies it was arable land. Industrial countries were constrained by how much physical capital (machines, factories, railroads, etc.) they could produce.

Today humanity is no longer constrained by capital, but by attention.

We are facing a crisis of attention. We are not paying enough attention to profound challenges, such as “what is our purpose?” and “how do we overcome the climate crisis?”

Attention is to time as velocity is to speed: attention is what we direct our minds to during a time period. We cannot go back and change what we paid attention to. If we are poorly prepared for a crisis it is because of how we have allocated our attention in the past.

We have enough capital to meet our individual and collective needs, as long as we are clear about the difference between needs and wants.

Our needs can be met despite the population explosion because of the amazing technological progress we have made and because population growth is slowing down everywhere with peak population in sight.

Industrial Age society, however, has intentionally led us down a path of confusing our unlimited wants with our modest needs, as well as specific solutions (e.g. individually owned cars) with needs (e.g. transportation).

The confusion of wants with needs keeps much of our attention trapped in the “job loop”: we work so that we can buy goods and services, which are produced by other people also working.

The job loop was once beneficial, when combined with markets and entrepreneurship, it resulted in much of the innovation that we now take for granted.

Now, however, we can and should apply as much automation as we can muster to free human attention from the “job loop” so that it can participate in the “knowledge loop” instead: learn, create, and share.

Digital technology can be used to vastly accelerate the knowledge loop, as can be seen from early successes, such as Wikipedia and open access scientific publications.

Much of digital technology is being used to hog human attention into systems such as Facebook, Twitter and others that engage in the business of reselling attention,  commonly known as advertising. Most of what is advertised is  furthering wants and reinforces the job loop.

The success of market-based capitalism is that capital is no longer our binding constraint. But markets cannot be used for allocating attention due to missing prices.

Prices do not and cannot exist for what we most need to pay attention to. Price formation requires supply and demand, which don't exist for finding purpose in life, overcoming the climate crisis, conducting fundamental research, or engineering an asteroid defense.

We must use the capabilities of digital technology so that we can freely allocate human attention.

We can do so by enhancing economic, information, and psychological freedom.

Economic freedom means allowing people to opt out of the job loop by providing them with a universal basic income (UBI).

Informational freedom means empowering people to control computation and thus information access, creation and sharing.

Psychological freedom means developing mindfulness practices that allow people to direct their attention in the face of a myriad distractions.

UBI is affordable today exactly because we have digital technology that allows us to drive down the cost of producing goods and services through automation.

UBI is the cornerstone of a new social contract for the Knowledge Age, much as pensions and health insurance were for the Industrial Age.

Paid jobs are not a source of purpose for humans in and of themselves. Doing something meaningful is. We will never run out of meaningful things to do.

We need one global internet without artificial geographic boundaries or fast and slow lanes for different types of content.

Copyright and patent laws must be curtailed to facilitate easier creation and sharing of derivative works.

Large systems such as Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc. must be mandated to be fully programmable to diminish their power and permit innovation to take place on top of the capabilities they have created.

In the longrun privacy is incompatible with technological progress. Providing strong privacy assurances can only be accomplished via controlled computation. Innovation will always grow our ability to destroy faster than our ability to build due to entropy.

We must put more effort into protecting individuals from what can happen to them if their data winds up leaked, rather than trying to protect the data at the expense of innovation and transparency.

Our brains evolved in an environment where seeing a cat meant there was a cat. Now the internet can show us an infinity of cats. We can thus be forever distracted.

It is easier for us to form snap judgments and have quick emotional reactions than to engage our critical thinking facilities.

Our attention is readily hijacked by systems designed to exploit these evolutionarily engrained features of our brains.

We can use mindfulness practices, such as conscious breathing or meditation to take back and maintain control of our attention.

As we increase economic, informational and psychological freedom, we also require values that guide our actions and the allocation of our attention.

We should embrace a renewed humanism as the source of our values.

There is an objective basis for humanism. Only humans have developed knowledge in the form of books and works of art that transcend both time and space.

Knowledge is the source of humanity’s great power. And with great power comes great responsibility.

Humans need to support each other in solidarity, irrespective of such differences as gender, race or nationality.

We are all unique, and we should celebrate these differences. They are beautiful and an integral part of our humanity.

Because only humans have the power of knowledge, we are responsible for other species. For example, we are responsible for whales, rather than the other way round.

When we see something that could be improved, we need to have the ability to express that. Individuals, companies and societies that do not allow criticism become stagnant and will ultimately fail.

Beyond criticism, the major mode for improvement is to create new ideas, products and art. Without ongoing innovation, systems become stagnant and start to decay.

We need to believe that problems can be solved, that progress can be achieved. Without optimism we will stop trying, and problems like the climate crisis will go unsolved threatening human extinction.

If we succeed with the transition to the Knowledge Age, we can tackle extraordinary opportunities ahead for humanity, such as restoring wildlife habitats here on earth and exploring space.

We can and should each contribute to leaving the Industrial Age behind and bringing about the Knowledge Age.

We start by developing our own mindfulness practice and helping others do so.

We tackle the climate crisis through activism demanding government regulation, through research into new solutions, and through entrepreneurship deploying working technologies.

We defend democracy from attempts to push towards authoritarian forms of government.

We foster decentralization through supporting localism, building up mutual aid, participating in decentralized systems (crypto and otherwise).

We promote humanism and live in accordance with humanist values.

We recognize that we are on the threshold of both transhumans (augmented humans) and neohumans (robots and artificial intelligences).

We continue on our epic human journey while marveling at (and worrying about) our aloneness in the universe.

We act boldly and with urgency, because humanity’s future depends on a successful transition to the Knowledge Age.

[cathey-winchester-666]

One Piece Men X Reader

Summary: Short thoughts on how I think the One Piece boys show affection to their s/o. Gender neutral.

Relationship: Romantic, fluff!

Characters: Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Ace, Marco, Law, Sabo

LUFFY: Hugs Luffy shows affection by hugging his s/o and honestly feels most loved by them when they're the ones to initiate a hug. Luffy's never felt a hint of embarrassment before and PDA sure ain't about to change that now. It doesn't matter if you're on the opposite end of the ship to him, he will stretch his arms all the way across, grab you away from whatever you're doing and pull you into a heartfelt hug with an adorable giggle that you just can't say no to. Doesn't matter where you are or who you're with, he will always love you and show affection just the same. That said, if you've uncomfortable with doing something like that, he knows what a boundary is, you just need to show him where you've drawn it.

ZORO: Head Pats Give this man a break... he honestly isn’t all that great at showing his affection. That’s not to say that he doesn’t love it when you show affection in literally any type of way, he’s just not very good at initiating it. He’s also not a huge fan of PDA. So, if he ever feels like he wants your attention or that he hasn’t shown that he loves you in a while, then he’ll come up and sit beside you and start stroking your hair. Or he’ll literally just start petting you. One time, when he thought you were asleep, he just put his hand on your head and left it there... he’s trying his best y’all.

SANJI: Kisses Butterfly kisses, kisses on the cheek, kisses on the lips, nose, eyes, forehead, it really doesn't matter to him. A kiss is a kiss and he absolutely adores it when you're the one to initiate it, it makes him feel wanted and loved. And he is not afraid to kiss you whenever he needs affection. Sometimes he'll just spontaneously walk up behind you and kiss your head, or your cheek or whatever he can. At first you would be surprised by this, but you've just learned to continue your conversation and add him in. He tends to do it a lot more in front of Zoro because he knows it grosses him out. But seriously, in his opinion, a kiss is the ultimate confession of love and he feels as though he has to do it a lot to prove that he still loves you as much as the moment he first knew.

ACE: Words Ace loves to hear from you how much you love a care for him. Tell him how much you missed him, tell him that his hair feels soft, that you love how warm he is, that you enjoy spending time with him. Shower him in compliments and you'll leave him in a blushing mess, but it's only when you do it. Like sure, he knows that he looks good and that he's strong and that he did well in that last battle, but when you say it it just adds a whole new meaning to it. And especially after a long, hard day when he's questioning his worth, hearing you tell him that he's everything to you and all that you'll ever need etc, is just so impactful, especially when it's coming from his absolute favourite person in the world. He just loves when you tell him why you love him.

MARCO: Cuddles This man absolutely adores his cuddles. The intimacy of being so close and in such a vulnerable place and position. He loves it when he gets to lay down on top of you with his head on your stomach whilst you run a hand through his hair. He could fall asleep in that position. He feels so soft whenever you fall asleep in his arms, you're so innocent, sweet, vulnerable, pure, peaceful and all that good stuff. He could watch you for days without getting bored. He almost did once, you had taken a hit to the head that kept you unconscious for over 48 hours (nothing you couldn't recover from) and Ace had to come in to check if he was still alive. It even took Ace several callings of Marco's name to get the division commander to acknowledge his presence.

LAW: Actions Law isn’t a big fan of PDA and lovey-dovey affection. He feels that if someone truly loved him, then saying it isn’t enough, they have to show it as well. To him, actions speak far louder than words. And I don’t mean physical affection like hugs and kisses and stuff, I mean helping out in little ways that lighten his load. Like doing his laundry and leaving it neatly folded in his draw. Or after a long day of him working, you either lay him down in bed or puts a blanket on him after he falls asleep at his desk. Or cooking him breakfast in the morning. Or leaving some coffee on his desk. Those kinds of little things that show him someone is constantly thinking about him and cares enough to notice what they can do to help him out without expecting any praise for completing these small tasks. However, that's not to say he doesn't try and return it in his own way. He'd be the kind of person to leave out little notes and letters in the place of your completed task with a different 'thank you' each time.

SABO: Soft Touches He likes the little touches of reassurance, like holding his hand or brushing his cheek, even just linking pinkies. He's not exactly against PDA, but he isn't going to show off with excessive amounts either. Rubbing shoulder, standing close enough that your arms are touching, a hand on the thigh. It gives him butterflies every time. The amount of times that he's been in a meeting, your hand has touched his knee and he's burst into a shade of red that's had other people looking on with concern [except for Koala, she knows what's up ;) ] measured in kilograms it could sink a battleship. This man is honestly such a simp for those little moments of pure adoration between the two of you.