#like what is going on in the western fan circles? it gives big “I bought a japanese dictionary” vibes it's wild

[aechlys]

"misshitsu-kei" I feel like I'm hallucinating these western fans are just making shit up istg 🫠🫠🫠

[deberiaestarescribiendo]

The Tragic and Magic about You. Modern day bounty hunter Din Djarin x F!reader #Writer Wednesday 05/12/21

Summary: You’ve been running away, and trying to start a new, but suddenly you’re captured in a car with a mysterious bounty hunter that has to deliver you to your old boss. But the road can be a dangerous place and the journey will change both your fates forever.

Words: 4,6

Warning: swearing, guns and murder. “there’s only one sleeping bag” trope. Fluff at the end.

A/N: Hi! Another week another thank you to all the amazing writers that participate and everybody that read, comment, like, reblog etc. And of course to @autumnleaves1991-blog for creating this and bring a platform to smaller blogs like myself. Sorry for any bad grammar, misspelling etc and excuse my zero imagination to create fictional names for characters. This is vaguely inspired by Hozier “From Eden” song and specifically the video.

The Tragic and Magic about you

“So you don’t talk much huh?” you say, it’s been a few hours since he’s taken you and he hasn’t said a word. His dark brown eyes fixed on the road and he doesn’t even react when you talk.

“Can I turn on the radio?” before he answers you’re already touching the buttons. A few notes escape from the stereo and in a second it’s gone, he has reached the device and has turn it off. “Not a big fan of music, gotcha” you reply with a huff. Bored, you observe his profile, his hair is disheveled, a chocolate brown as his eyes; he has a striking beauty you think: strong jaw line, aquiline nose and a stern expression. Gosh, you always on the look for bad men and you laugh at yourself for being as simple as to being attracted to the bounty hunter that has finally catch you.

“So you’re kinda nostalgic? Cool car” you brush your hand over the beige leather inside the silver blue Cadillac. “And expensive, you must be really good at this bounty hunt thing, well, you got me and I’ve been running for a few months. I really thought I was safe to be honest, it’s been a long time since somebody got close so I became a little bit too comfortable, I must admit. God! I’m going to miss my apartment” you pout” I had plans for the weekend, and even bought all the ingredients to make a cake. I was almost there! Shit! Now my flat is going to stink with all that food expiring and probably my landlord is going to steal all my stuff, fucking prick, I hate him so much” The bounty hunter reaches for the radio and turns it on. You smirk watching as he has adjusted his posture and his index taps rapidly on the steering wheel.

“Oh I love this song!” you turn it up to the maximum and start singing clearly not knowing the lyrics you just mutter the final syllables of each word, watching him intently as his eyelid trembles and he’s breathing deeply now, his knuckles white holding the wheel so hard that you think he’s about to break it “Isn’t it beautiful this country? look at this, we really don’t appreciate it much, look at the red and oranges of these mountains, the vastness, the sand and how you cannot reach the horizon with your eyes. You must love this, just riding solo with your cool car just doing whatever you want. Real freedom”

For the first time since he arrested you, he turns to you giving you a warning look and you bite your lip, he’s intimidating, a big man and you know if he’s in the business he’s capable of anything, but here you are pressing all his buttons until, if it works, he’s going to snap.

“What’s your name?” He sighs deeply and keeps on driving ignoring you once more “I mean you know many things about me, it’s only fair”

“Mm, let me guess” you tap your finger over your chin “Tom?” no, too posh for you. Jack? you could be a Jack but no. Oh! oh!” you move nervously on your seat and slap on his arm with both your hand handcuffed together “I’m going to call you Clint. You know why?” you wait a few seconds “Clint Eastwood, my friend, a man of a few words. You know who he is, right? Dirty Harry? All those westerns? They’re really not my thing, but he’s a legend, you surely must know him”

The few following hours you asked him about many things and you don’t know anybody this strong, if you were in his place you would be already dead or inside the trunk.

The sun is getting down and the desert starts to be submerged in a violet light and there’s nothing around. You wonder if he’s really going on until he has to give you up without stopping. You’re hungry and thirsty (after too much talking) and you really could use a bathroom.

“So Clint, we ain’t stopping just for bit? I really need to pee, and it would be great if you take this off for a bit” you shake your handcuffs close to his face, and finally you have achieved his limit. He stops the car abruptly and opens his door without saying a word. You follow him with your eyes and when he comes to your door you think of begging mercy knowing that you don’t deserve it, poor guy must have had it.

You turn on your seat and face him. Clint bends down a little and grabs you by your hip taking you out of the car by a swift movement.

“Careful!” you scream

“Shut up” he doesn’t raise his voice. It’s the second time he has said something. The first time being when he stopped you on the middle of the road and after confirming your identity, he had caught you and handcuffed you but he hadn’t said a thing, until now. His voice is deep and low and you wish to hear more but he opens the door to the back seat and throws you on it. He reaches for his jeans and you actually freeze thinking he’s reaching for his gun but he takes out a black bandana and comes close to you. His large broad body occupies all your space, his leather jacket making his shoulders look stronger than you had thought at first glance.

He’s surprisingly gentle, his big hands circling your head while he adjusts the fabric over your mouth “Really it’s not necessary” you say before he reaches your mouth with two fingers and pushes the black bandana between your lips. He ties it a little bit tighter. Your head is on his chest over his white shirt and you scold yourself when you feel you have closed your eyes smelling him: leather, fresh soap and something else that it’s entirely his, once the knot is done on your nape he looks at you and raises one eyebrow “Too tight?”

“i-f not nefecessary f-really” you say and he stays too close to your face for a bit, probably thinking if he should just shove the thing inside your throat and shut you forever. You feel your cheeks burning because you’ve been looking straight into his eyes, they’re surprisingly gentle, there’s warmth in them that you haven’t seen in anybody in this kind of business.

“Just be good and stay quiet for the rest of the journey. We will arrive soon” Clint then proceeds to grab you by your legs and puts you in a more comfortable position on the seat and takes the precaution of fastening your seatbelt. He is extremely careful on his movements and he barely brushes his hands on your hip while doing it, but his neck is so close, shining in a thin layer of perspiration and you are lost again thinking things any sensible person would never have in mind while you’re been taken against your will to answer for messing with the wrong people.

You moan in disappointment when he gets away and closes the door. Then you are left there alone, his scent lingering over your body and you think about how your life had come to this but then...

You feel the air hitting your right side first and the projectile breaking the sound close to your ear second, then the million small pieces of the glass. Some other gunshots hit the trunk and you’re already screaming and trying to get down but the handcuffs and your trembling hands don’t find the way to unlock the seatbelt.

Clint is pressed against the car, you see the top of his head and he’s firing back to whomever is attacking you. You throw your body on the back seat and in the second your back hits the leather, two gun shots blast both windows and many sparkling bits of glass hits your face.

“Release me!” you shout “I can f-helpf” your chin is covered in your saliva but who fucking cares when you’re about to die. Clint raises and you see through the door how he’s attacking back with two guns, his face contorted and sweaty and then you hear the sound of tires screeching the road and your captor lowers his guns.

“Are you okay?” he says through the broken glass on the door

He opens it and what was left of the glass windows crashes to the ground. Clint looks at it for a second; his cool vintage car is destroyed. He climbs over you and takes out the wet fabric out of your mouth

“Are you okay?” he asks again, with the gentlest touch of his fingers he shakes off of your face the small crystals

“Yeah” you whisper. It’s sad that this is the kindest anybody has been to you in a long time.

He reaches for your hands and turns them softly seeing that a red line has formed on your wrists. Clint then lowers the collar of his shirt to reveal a long silver chain with what looks like a skull with horns and one small key to the side, he takes it out and you hear the small clic sound once you’re free.

“Come on we have to go”

When you get out of the car, you curse seeing that they have completely destroyed the tires and the smell of gas and the dark puddle on the road assures you that the car is useless. But there’s nothing around and zero traffic. The vast desert is now covered in the blue shadow of the night and the temperature is beginning to sink.

“So what’s the plan?” Clint has taken a big duffle bag on his shoulder and pushes you from your lower back to the side of the road

“We will spend the night here, if we stay in the open they could find us easily” he says walking towards the darkness where only the shadow of the sharp bushes and cacti cover the space.

“Who are they?” you ask and try to fix your feet on the ground but he still pushes you towards the emptiness of the desert

“Probably competing bounty hunters, you have a big price on your head, you know?” he responds

“But spending the night in the desert, we will be dead by the morning” you protest. The few lights on the road are getting farther and farther away as you both walk towards some indeterminate point. He walks slowly by your side, actually not paying much attention to you, his hand now lies lazily on his side and so you decide in a rush to run away towards the only thing you deem safe, the road. You hear him sigh before he starts running behind you

“Stop, please” he shouts but you go on. You feel your legs as if they were made of iron, heavy and stiff. You gasp the air in your lungs exiting all at once, once he catches you and raise you over his shoulder. You become a little dizzy with your head upside down grabbing the belt on his jeans for your dear life

“Let me down!” he ignores you and keeps on walking, his hand are strong lock on your thighs and the other in your calf so you cannot kick him “I said let me down!”

“Are you going to run again?” he stops

“No” you sigh

“Great” and he bends down so your feet can touch the ground.

He gave you a bottle of warm water and some energetic cereal bar while he prepares a small camp. He knows his ways in all this, searching for a specific place in the wilderness where you two could be safe. Two tall red rocks shield you from the night and he is now cleaning the ground so he can lay down the sleeping bag.

“I guess you did well in the Boys Scouts” you comment, he’s been silent again

“I’ve never been one” you open your eyes widely; it’s the first time he has answered one of your stupid comments.

“It comes with the Master Degree in Bounty Hunt, huh Clint?” you laugh

“My name is not Clint”

“Alright, so what’s your name?” you cross your arm over your legs waiting for an answer but he doesn’t give you one. He sits opposite you with his eyes on the road far away

“You know we could talk a little, we have a bond now with this near death experience”

“Rest in the sleeping bag, I’m going to stand guard” he cuts you

“I’m not that tired” even in the dark you see his eyes glaring at you, and you obey. The bag is on his right side and you get inside it feeling the hard ground on your back. Your muscles protest feeling all the tension going away and even if you try not to your eyes begin to close begging for a few hours of sleep.

You curl and make a ball out of your body, when you open your eyes is a dark pitch nothingness in front of you and you tremble for a second until the stars and the moon cast enough light to see a few meters away. It’s so cold now, your jeans and basic cotton shirt are not enough and even the fabric of the sleeping bag couldn’t protect you from this. So you turn and watch your captor’s shape huddled down pressed against the stone.

“Aren’t you cold?” you teeth chatter and he doesn’t answer and the worst possible scenario begins to form on your head “Clint tell me you’re not dead for fuck sake! what would I do in this shithole?”

“I’m not” he simply says, you see that he has zip up his leather jacket, his hands protected inside his armpits

“Come here, we need to stay warm” you get your arm out and blindly trying to reach for his body

“I’m okay”

“Come on, I’m freezing, do you really want to bring me in dead?”

“They actually didn’t care, I could bring in you in cold or I could bring in you in warm”

“Well, be kind and bring me warm” you guess he’s thinking about it or actually it’s going to be brave and spend the night like that, but you hear him moving towards you and lie down against you with a huff.

“Don’t be shy, Clint” you say pressing your body against him. He tenses for a second but then agrees to put his arm around you and his warm breath brushes the hair on your neck

“My name is not Clint” he mutters

“Then why don’t you tell me your name and we will be over it, Clint?”

“I don’t tell anybody, especially those who I catch and deliver”

“I bet you’d never lied down spooning with anyone you caught in the middle of the desert, Clint, but here we are” you whisper

“You never shut up, right?”

“I bet your tongue must be tired for all this talking, Clint” he exhales deeply and moves a little. His big body is surprisingly warm and you think that maybe he could have survived the night out in the open, but you’re thankful that he did join you. You relax your body feeling how tense it was once the temperature lowered “I guess it must be a very horrible name and that’s why you don’t want to tell anybody. But I don’t judge, I mean if anything it’s your parents fault and I will never judge a parent, I’m a very shitty mum myself”

“You are a mum?” his voice sound surprised

“Yeah...I was young when I had him” you feel a warm tear rolling on your otherwise froze cheek

“Wh-where is he?” he tentatively asks

“Far away, with a family I thought would take good care of him, but they’re assholes” you cough before actually starting to cry

“You cannot get him back?”

“I was trying to, that’s why I took the money from my old boss. To start a life with him far away from all this shit and the things I did in the past” you feel how he turns abruptly and raises his upper body to look over at you

“You’re not making that up to get yourself out of this, right?” his words are harsh and the moonlight hit his serious face “I take very seriously anything that has to be with children, it’s part of my creed”

“I’m not lying” you mutter he doesn’t move for a bit but then you see him fluster when he’s aware that you’re very close and he’s on top of you.

Then you’re both in silence you press your eyelids shut trying to regain sleep or maybe to control the urge to cry.

He was actually right. The gas station was not far away, he looks at you from the payphone while you devour a doughnut he has paid and a cup of coffee.

“One of my associates is going to pick us up in a bit” he leaves the duffle bag over one of the gas pump and searches something until he has taken a black plastic clamp “I’m sorry I have to” he takes your hands and brushes his thumb over the marks, you hiss and he looks at you with warm eyes “it would be loose, but don’t do anything stupid” when he ties it, it barely touches your skin “Is it okay?”

“Yes, thanks”

While in the car, with the other man driving, Clint doesn’t say a word and he’s back to the brooding and mysterious bounty hunter. You want to ask him a million questions, know his name, what his creed is or what the collar he hides is and you know that time’s up. You will be delivered to Mr. Horzag and then...you actually don’t know what he’s going to do to you. You have been avoiding those thoughts but now it’s time to face your fate.

His club looks completely different in the daylight. The liquor and the suspicious stains on the velvet couches are visible and the dark paint is chipped, all the frames and lamps dusty, you think that you’ve been lucky the time you’ve worked for him not catching anything bad from touching this sticky place.

“So you are as efficient as they told me” he says with that slow and deep voice of his

Clint nods and softly grabs your forearm bringing you towards the table where the old man smokes.

“Oh, my sweet runaway, it’s a pleasure to have you back” he smiles and you shiver

“Unfortunately I can’t say the same”

“Where’s the money?” he changes his fake smile to a violent expression

“I don’t have it” you shrug

“That’s inconvenient you know that, don’t you?”

“I told you I needed the money, I deserved it for many long hours in this shithole and doing jobs you never actually paid for. I told you I needed it as soon as possible and you ignore me. I just took what I was owed” you replied

“Oh! Yes! To finally play the mummy you actually never wanted to be. How sweet!” he laughs. The two men by his side laugh with him but it sounds faked. Everybody dances at the sound of Mr. Herzog music in this hell; you must always do what he does. “And if you needed the money to get your baby back, where is he? Oh! Maybe you got lost on your way as always, right? And actually expended it on yourself, poor baby is better off without you. Who would want a hoe like you as a mum?”

Again the sound and the air hit you first before you could even process what’s going on. Clint has his two guns out and he has hit Mr. Herzog just in the middle of his forehead, the faster man of the two lies dead with a similar shot and the other, being slower falls down to the ground with his gun on his hand that he hasn’t had the chance to use.

“What?” you shout

“We have to go, is there any other way out? The men at the entry will arrive soon” he says and grabs your arm to rush you when you are still gasping looking at the scene

“Over there” you point to the bathrooms

There was a small door, with a warning claiming that behind it there was just the electric panel but it was actually a door out to run away in case of police raids. You grab Clint‘shand and run through the dark corridor knowing your way in the dark

“We will arrive few streets away” you announce

You try to catch your breath once you get out but he doesn’t give you that time to rest and grabs you and keeps on running gathering insults and screams while you bump into people. He doesn’t stop until you’re on a parking lot on some supermarket; he walks casually until he stops beside the door of a car.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting us a transport. Go to the other door” he covers himself with his body, and you hear the clic when the doors unlock.

A few miles after, you have already caught your breath but still your body is shaking

“Why did you do it?” you mumble. Clint looks at the road, his face is dirty and his jacket dusty, he looks at you before he answers, his eyes glow and you can see tears forming at the corner of his eyes. “A child should be with their parents. They should be loved and taking care of” he says and nods “Where’s your son?”

The neighborhood is dead silent; you drive slowly watching the white fences, white painted houses.

“That’s the one” you say

“Let’s go” he stops the car in the middle of the road and you follow Clint not knowing exactly what is he planning to do.

“We should wait until the morning and ask for him”

“They tried to blackmail you into paying them for getting your son back, what do you think they’re going to do?” he mutters and you sigh knowing it’s true. They didn’t even let you see him after hours of driving if you didn’t gave them something.

He works his magic hands again as he did with the car and opens the door without a sound. He turns his head to both sides until he finds the small panel of the alarm. “Go to his room, I will work the alarm. Don’t make a sound”

You climb the stairs and they creak a little but you’re swift and enter the small room where you know he will be on his crib. You have to cover your mouth to prevent you from crying.

He has a white shirt too big for him and he is cuddling the soft frog plushie you bought him last time you visited him.

“Sh, sh, I’m here, ranita” (little frog) you take him with the small white blanket he has over him, and press his small body to your chest. He protest a little and holds tight his soft toy but doesn’t make another sound or wakes up. So with all the care in the world you climb down and Clint is at the door and waves his hand to rush you.

“Probably the alarm will go off in a few minutes. C’mon”

You could sleep, your body and mind begs you for it, but you can’t take your eyes off of your precious baby. His small lips parted in a relaxed slumber, in a way he knows his at home, his with you and that makes your heart beat faster and bring tears to your eyes. “Thank you” you say, he drives slowly, the light from the cars illuminates his smiling face “It’s a beautiful baby”

“Greg, that’s his name, told you I will not judge if you have a horrible name. I should have thought about other but I wanted to please my boyfriend at the time, just for him to run away...fucker”

“It’s Din” he says

“Din?” you say back and repeat it a few times loving the way it sounds on your lips “It’s beautiful”

“Thank you”

All the waitresses stop to smile and say a few sweet words to your son and you feel proud, in this horrible and ungrateful life you made something so pure and beautiful, he smiles at them once he’s awake and one of them even makes the effort of pressing some fruits to make something for him to eat. Din has his arms crossed over the table eating his breakfast but keeps his eyes on you. You see him observing you and the baby from the corner of your eye and when you get him he blushes and keeps on eating.

“Say hi to Din, ranita. He saved us” you grab his chubby hand and waves it to Din that smiles back at him. Greg opens his toothless mouth at him and laughs “Oh you like him! Enough to lend him your froggy, huh?” you ask the baby and he smiles while eating another spoon of his purée “Take the frog and look inside” you motion to the soft toy that is over the table. Greg actually pouts when he takes it but doesn’t cry.

The toy has a small white Velcro slot where normally there would be a small battery to make sounds but inside there’s a plastic bag with a thick bundle of bills.

“Your payment. I guess it’s only fair. I went to those fuckers’s house to get my baby but they asked for more money. So I looked for a job, a proper one, to pay the rest and well, the rest of what I’ve stolen couldn’t be in a bank and what’s a better place for hiding than a place in plain sight, huh?

“I cannot accept it” he says pressing the Velcro “You have to provide for your baby” he shakes his head and puts the frog back to its place much to Greg content.

“And what would you do? You cannot possible be back to bounty hunting”

“I can move to other place, start somewhere new. Nobody really knows me” he shrugs

“We do, I do” you whisper and then there’s silence between you two, and it feels the cafeteria is silent, there’s nobody around except for you and the invisible string that ties you together, a string full of dreams and longing for a home, for love and acceptance, to truly belong somewhere. “If you starting a new, and I too...I...well”

“That’s no life for a baby...” his voice shakes and he’s back to fix his eyes on his plate

“A baby deserves to be love and taking care of, you said it. And Din, you’re the first person that has cared for us”

“I guess I could protect you until you’re both safe and settle” he says softly like he’s trying to convince himself “For a bit...”

You smile and nod tears gathering on your eyes. It’s the happiest you’ve been since forever “For a bit” you agree.

(As you saw I have zero imagination for names and called baby Grogu, Baby Greg and Mr Harzog is the name of the actor for The Client in The Mandalorian 🤦)

[drshojo]

The World, My Childhood And My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

Hello friends!  

Its Dr. Shojo coming at you with a post that will be divided into three parts!

Part One: The world as we know it! 

The world has changed a lot since we last connected. For starters, TOILET BOUND HANAKO KUN HAS NOT ONLY A PHYSICAL RELEASE BUT A GORGEOUS ANIME! And not only that, but MY NEXT LIFE AS A VILLAINESS: ALL ROUTES LEAD TO DOOM! IS GETTING AN ANIME AS WELL! The last time I wrote about Katerina there wasn’t even an official English translation of that long-ass light-novel-title. And now?

A WHOLE ANIME. A BISEXUAL HAREM AWAITS! I am JAZZED!

Do you think it’s my fault? No matter, I’ll take all the credit. All the manga I talk about are getting anime adaptations. I’LL DO MY DUTY AND TALK ABOUT SOME MORE!

But first. Let us address the Covid-19 shaped elephant in the room

I deeply regret that it took a whole-ass pandemic to get me back to writing. In my defense, I bought an iPad and started drawing like 900 kokichi oumas. I was really busy with that. And then I started reading fanfiction. Then that got me thinking about how fanfiction such an interesting look into how people interpret fandom, use it for wish fulfillment and escapism, and good god is everyone OK cause that bulimia fan fic was super detailed....and I am officially on a tangent. Off track. Ahem.

We are all staying inside a whole lot more which means y’all probably need some reading material and Dr. Shojo has your back! Go read “Horimiya”! It’s amazing! Ahhhh, my work here is done! I'm serious, if you’re here for a Shojo rec, that’s it! There's also like 8 million more Otome Isekais to check out now. It’s like they’re multiplying like rabbits..............

As a Doctor, I must advise you to stay inside and read some manga and practice social distancing. Embrace your inner hikikomori. 

Allright? All good? Okay now one final disclaimer:

This post is going to be talking about something a little different than usual and I want to start by giving you some context about who Dr. Shojo is in real life. 

Part Two: Dr. Shojo Exposed 

You see, when I was little I was obsessed with Japanese media. This doesn't surprise you at all I can tell. Probably because I walk around calling myself Dr. Shojo and shout about manga that you should read.

Anyways, the reason why I was obsessed wasn’t because of the big eyes or the spikey hair or the interesting new culture. It was because it tended to have more character development and overarching plotlines than the media I was used to in Canada. Dexter’s Lab, Magic School Bus, pretty much everything I saw on TV was episodic in nature, so imagine how much my mind was blown when I saw Naruto and Card Captor Sakura, heck, even Pokémon had the Indigo Plateau! Here were kids that were learning more and more each day and got to see enemies become friends and vice versa. They lived and grew older just like me. Except they were cooler than me. And had more interesting lives than me. I gotta tell you, I was so sad when I was 12 and Kero didn’t tell me I had latent magical powers. But there was magic in my life and it was the magic of a complex narrative story. And not only that, it had a sense of movement and had cool costumes. I was hooked immediately.

Also, fun fact, at that age I happened to be a complete and utter tomboy! I loved pretending to fight my friends in the playground and was really worried that puberty would ruin my life because being a girl sounded so CUMBERSOME.

Which leads me up to my confession. Before I became Dr. Shojo, I was in fact......Dr. Shonen.

Bleach? Naruto? One Piece? I've read every single chapter there is.  

Hundreds of hours of watching fight sequences. Another fun fact, I only got into shojo because my aunt bought me volume 7 and 8 of Fruits Basket thinking “all mangas like the same right? Kids love comics?” It’s a tribute to how episodic western media was back then that she thought buying volume SEVEN and EIGHT was a REASONABLE PLACE TO START READING.

Now you might also say, Hey! Dr Shojo! Cardcaptors was a shojo! And you are right! but back then the anime was marketed to boys over here in the west and they actualy like, edited out episodes that they thought wouldn't interest boys?! Second fun fact, Once when I was in Grade 3 I was told I was not allowed to join a club under the stairs cause I was a girl and it was BOYS ONLY. The point of the club? To talk about how great Cardcaptors was! I Kid you not!

So anyways, your pall Dr. Shojo loves Shonen manga to this day!

The only reason I made this Dr. Shojo blog specifically about shojo is because, being a tomboy with no female friends, reading shojo manga was the first time I really thought about what it meant to be a girl and fall in love. And y i k e s. Shojo manga, like most media, fails miserably most of the time in displaying real world relationships. Or at least, it  doesn't prepare you for how disappointing everything can be. When I had my first kiss, I was thinking about how it didn’t feel at all like how I felt reading Zen and Shirayukis kiss in Akagame No Shirayuki Hime. Those were formative years, and shojo was one of the only places I saw romance being talked about for younger audiences. I liked reading romances where no one had any sexual experiences and were figuring out what love meant to them. But let’s shelve this topic for now.

The point is that gender roles are dumb and if you have an open mind there's a world of stories out there for you. Take this time inside to read something you wouldn’t normally. Critically think about the ways that the worlds you see in stories and how you experience the world differ. What are the messages a story is trying to tell you? And why do you like the stories you do? Reflect on how the stories you tell yourself color your view of the world. Even mindless entertainment leaves an impression on us. Anyways.

Whilst you're doing that, I'm going to absolutely lose my hecking mind over the Shonen Jump series MY HERO ACADEMIA: Vigilantes!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Part Three: I downloaded the one month free trial of the Shonen Jump app and made you read all that, so I can tell you that today Dr. Shojo is going to rant about a spin-off of a shonen manga

THAT’S RIGHT, OF COURSE I READ HERO ACA AND YES I DID PICK UP THE SPIN OFF SERIES. SHONEN JUMP LETS YOU READ ALL THE NEW CHAPTERS FOR FREE ON THEIR APP. KIDS, IF YOU LIKE SHONEN AND YOU’RE PIRATING ON A SCANLATION SITE STILL GET OUT BECAUSE YOU DON’T NEED TO SEE THOSE WEIRD PLASTIC SURGERY AND DENTISTRY ADDS ANY MORE.

SHONEN IS HERE AND ITS LEGAL AND ITS FREE FOR YOU. GET OFF MANGA FOX OR MANGA ROCK OR WHATEVER THE KIDS ARE USING THESE DAYS.

OK, so by this point in the article you have learned two very important things about me: 1) I love Shonen manga and 2) I read a lot of fanfiction.

Specifically, I read an absolutely biblical amount of My Hero Academia fan fiction and let me tell you, A solid chunk of it is vigilante/ Deadpool / criminal with a heart of gold themed.

So when I saw Hero Aca had a spin off, and it was about vigilantes, I was NOT SURPRISED IN THE SLIGHTEST. Ao3 sure is powerful.

Now, if you will permit me a tangent in a post full of tangents—HOLY CRAP, THERE ARE TOO MANY VIGILANTE AUS. I CAN'T KEEP TRACK OF EM. IT’S THE ISEKAI PROBLEM ALL OVER AGAIN. I GET AN EMAIL A FIC HAS UPDATED AND I’M LIKE IS THIS THE FIC WHERE DEKU HAS AN ABUSIVE MOM OR THE ONE WHERE HE HAS SPLIT PERSONALITY DISORDER OR THE ONE WHERE HE’S VIGILANTES WITH HITOSHI. OH WAIT, nvm, it’s the one where deku has a healing quirk.

OH WAIT WHICH OF THE 6 DEKU WITH HEALING QUIRK VIGILATE AU FICS IS THIS ONE?! ARGH WHY DIDN’T I WRITE A DESCRIPTION IN THE BOOKMARK FOR THIS!

My gripes aside, there's a reason why there's such an abundance of vigilante story telling—

Deadpool made like an absolute buttload of money and people love sass and memes.

People have a desire for a story in which they see themselves. Or, how they think of themselves.They like a story about someone who maybe came from nothing. Someone who has less money, maybe someone who is unlucky and had some bad breaks. Someone who never learned they had magic, never got their Hogwarts letter, never saw Kero, someone who never got that God-level quirk from All Might. And if your on Ao3 They want someone who also has seen a lot of memes and kind of wants taco bell and is also questioning their sexuality a bit?

Enter our new hero VIGILANTE DEKU.  

But the cannon can't do this, cause hey, Deku is the chosen one. Albeit, chosen by All Might, He’s got his own thing to do. But how can we still cash in on a vigilante story?

And thus enter our New-New hero KOICHI HAIMAWARI—code name Nice Guy and then later The Crawler. True to his relatable roots. He’s just a dude in an hoodie who can go about as fast as a bike.

First off, I love Koichi. He wants to be a hero and fight crime, but most of the time he has to run away because at the end of the day he's just a dude.

He’s cute but not wildly good-looking, A bit of a nerd but not like an extreme okaku. He’s got a part time job and hates violence.

And this is where Koichi really shines—in every day stuff. He helps out wherever he can. Often, that just means listening to people complain and maybe helping his friends out with whatever they’re going through. He’s the kind of guy who smiles, not because he's especially brave, but because he just takes things one at a time and doesn't sweat the past. I think it’s really telling that he missed getting into hero high-school because he skipped the entrance exam to help someone. He’s the kind of person who lets us experience the superpower of human decency and empathy. And you know what? That’s something the world need desperately.  

This theme of human decency is really the driving force of Vigilantes—it’s a manga about how the laws are there for a reason but sometimes they unfairly impact the poor and vulnerable. It's about how a lot of criminals are just people who fell into bad social circles or on bad times. People have the capacity for cruelty and violence but that’s never all they are.  

Now, speaking of crime, the entirety of Hero Aca falls into some murky water when it comes to its evil doers. Much of the fandom has a huuuuuge problem with how much the franchise is willing to sweep under the rug in the name of redeeming their baddies. RE: people getting mad about forgiving Endeavor’s child abuse, or Bakugo’s suicide baiting. Or Mineta’s blatant sexual harassment.

But this theme is in Vigilantes even more than it ever was in the main series. To start off with, there’s this guy who tries to rape Pop Step early on, and the later he later winds up befriending everybody. It becomes a running gag that each new villain winds up befriending the other villain guys and then they all open a cat café together.

Using jobs as a way to lift people out of lives of crime is great and all but in the story there is no nuance or consequences for past wrong and well.....it feels very weird.  It's like Vigilantes plays at having an opinion about moral ambiguity and the complexity of human existence and then just.......lets everyone get along because who has time to get into all that. Make of that what you will but it sits weird for me personally.

Anyway, let's move on and talk about POP STEP our main girl!

I love pop stars and I love vigilantes and a guerrilla performer is defiantly a character I could get behind. And I think they do a good job with Pop. She is actually kind of shy, but has this secret edgy persona she puts on when she performs. She is every girl on tumbler in the early 2000s. I also looooove that they make her not that great a singer. SHE’S GOT PASSION AND CHARISMA and maybe not born talent but like why should that stop you! Talent can be earned through practice and this is a great lesson to show people.

Unfortunately, Pop is also a great example of everything wrong with romance in Shonen.

It’s established early on that Pop loves Koichi because she is the girl he rescued all those years ago and yada yada yikes we’ve heard this one before. Many times before.

Sure, it's fine that they’ve met before, but gosh am I sick of damsels in distress. It's like she can't love him just because she respects what a great guy he is in her life and in the community at large, no no, she just needs to be rescued on top of that. And LOLOLOL isn't it funny he never noticed she was a girl because she was a child with short hair?! Once he realizes she has boobs now they will for sure fall in love! That’s how love works!

She's just with him all the time—nothing romantic ever happens she just gets a little tsundere.

I am never ever going to believe Koichi likes Pop because he spends like sooooo much time with her and they never have like, a moment. The first time he considers her is when Makoto is like, ‘hey I would love to get together with you, but have you thought about if you are crushing on Pop’. (Also this entire plot point is suspect—she's arbitrarily falling for Koichi cause he.......is the protagonist?)  

Say what you will about shojo, they give you the emotional conversations, the moments where you think.....ahhh I can see why she is falling for him. They give you context! Shonen likes to just say HERE’S A GIRL YOUR AGE. YOU CAN DATE LATER WHEN THE ADVENTURE IS DONE.

Just when they might get together, Pop suddenly turns evilllllll. The evilllll beeeees made her eeeevilllll (and more sexy).

*Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

Because why on earth would they get together if Koichi didn’t get to rescue Pop one more time?

I’m tired. These troupes are tired. I’m sure you are too. HOWEVER! If your still with me, Let’s move into why I'm really writing this post. Let’s get to the part that got me screaming to my friends, who by the way, don’t even care bout Hero Aca….but listened anyways. May you all find nakama like these my friends.

Anyways,

HOLY FUCK ERASERHEAD’S ENTIRE BACK STORY IS IN THIS AROUND CHAPTER 60 AND IT IS WONDERFUL AND ABSOLUTLY HEARTBREAKING AND IS ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTER BACKSTORIES I HAVE EVER SEEN AND IS THE REASON WHY THIS SERIES IS A MUST-READ FOR MAIN SERIES FANS.

AND BY ALMIGHT.  

WHY. IS. IT HERE.  

I present to you my late night text messages to my friends

ALSO, AIZAWAS TEACHER IS PRINCE?!?!?!

AHEM, so as you can see, I kinda lost my shit.

And now, I would like to formally defend my claim that DESPITE HOW AMAZING IT WAS, ERASERHEAD’S BACKSTORY HAD NO BUISSNESS BEING IN THE VIGILANTES SPIN-OFF MANGA.

Eraserhead, aka Aizawa Shouta, is a side character who is working with the police on some crime stuff. He is not a main cast member in this spin off. He’s a guest character that fans of the main series will be like OH COOL. GRUMPY CAT MAN LIKES CATS ON HIS OFF HOURS TOO. LOVE THAT FOR HIM.

So, my imagine my absolute surprise when Aizawa runs into Koichi and the following happens:

It starts to rain, so, like in any good manga, this means some great FORCED BONDING TIME

Except no. It doesn't because rather than start talking, Aizawa JUST STARTS REMEMBERING—ABSOLUTLY SILENTLY TO HIS OWN PRIVETE SELF—HIS ENTIRE TRAGIC BACKSTORY.

AND THIS GOES ON FOR CHAPTERS.

THIS GOES ON LONGER THEN ARC ONE IT FEELS LIKE.

I LOVE IT, BUT KOICHI IS ABOUT TO JOIN ATSUSHI NAKAJIMA IN THE DUBIOUS CATEGORY OF “PROTAGONISTS THE SERIES FORGOT ABOUT IN LIEU OF COOLER SIDE CHARACTERS”.

AND LO IT HAS NO BEARING ON THE REST OF THE PLOT, CHARACTERS, OR STORY

What the ever-loving-just WHY?

WHY?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

SURE, IT’S A COOL TIE-IN.

YES, OF COURSE I LOVED IT. I SHIP ERASER MIC, I DREW THIS FOR HECK’S SAKE:

AND YET I AM ANGRY.

I AM ANGRY BECAUSE MY FRIDAY WAS RUINED BECAUSE VIGILATES SUCKER PUNCHED ME WITH AN AMAZING STORY THAT REALLY WASN’T PLOT RELEVANT AND PROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THERE.  

IS THIS WHY THEY TOOK LIKE NEXT-TO-NO CARE WITH POPS ARC?!?

I mean its ongoing, so it’s too early to say but—

In conclusion—

Excuse me one more,

AIZAWA WAS TAUGHT BY PRINCE!?!??!?!?!?!? PURPLE RAIN PRINCE!?!??!?!?!? WHAT!??!?!?!

It’s so ABSURD that I HAD TO WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I HAD TO WRITE PARAGRAPHS TO JUSTIFY YELLING ABOUT THIS ONE THING. WHAT THE ABSOLUTE—

Ahem,

Anyways, I hope you liked this weird rant/personal-story/random-diatribe in three parts.

If you’re reading this, thank you, stay safe, and I’ll be back with more shojo manga next time.  

Ciao!

Dr. Shojo

(aka Dr. Shonen)

[lechevaliermalfet]

In the Name of the Moon – A Look at Lunar Legend Tsukihime

There’s a popular joke in the Type-Moon fandom that there is no Tsukihime anime, but boy it sure would be great if there was one.

I had only ever been dimly aware of this attitude toward the Tsukihime anime myself.  Watching it fansubbed for the first time in the early 00s, I wasn’t really plugged into the fandom, and the joke seemed like a minor thing to me.  I had all but forgotten it by the time I was with my wife at Otakon in 2012, and we went to a panel about Type-Moon for fandom newcomers.  

The panel was pretty salty about the Tsukihime anime, taking the joke about there being no such thing so far as to refuse to acknowledge it or discuss it.  If I recall, they insisted on this refusal even when directly asked about it by someone in the audience.  I also don’t recall them being all that complimentary about the Fate/Stay Night anime (the original 2006 series) for that matter.  We had a long drive home after the convention – fourteen hours, give or take – and our discussion about the convention kept circling back to that panel.

She’d gone mostly to accompany me, I think, and because she didn’t have anything she wanted to do that conflicted with it.  She had some minor interest herself, as she’d seen this supposedly nonexistent Tsukihime anime, and like me, she enjoyed it.  So it was pretty irritating for her to go to this panel ostensibly for newcomers and then have them trash the one thing she’d experienced in the fandom.  It was all the more irritating when you stopped to consider that at that point that it was, in all probability, one of the handful of things real newcomers might have experience with.

In its way, though, the panelists’ hostile and disdainful attitude toward the most accessible works in the general Type-Moon oeuvre did make for a suitable introduction.  If not to Type-Moon and their work, then to the fandom, and the high levels of toxicity most of its assholes could and would display given the opportunity.

But I’m not here to talk about the Type-Moon fandom, except as it amuses me, or is relevant to the subject at hand.

The subject being this supposedly non-existent anime: Lunar Legend Tsukihime.

My own relation to the Western Type-Moon fan community is tangential at best.  A couple of guys I know (one a good friend, the other an acquaintance), back in the early to mid-aughts, were moderators for the Beast’s Lair forum, basically the center of the English-language fandom community at the time.  Of course, at the time, the fandom was almost brand-new.  Tsukihime was all the rage then, because Tsukihime was almost all there was. Fate/Stay Night was new enough that there hadn’t really been time for the discourse around it to even form, let alone evolve much.  And in those days, Beast’s Lair was basically the forum owner and a few of his online friends, and I feel like half the reason it existed was because at that point, it was more convenient to just have a forum than it was to get a bunch of guys together on an AIM group chat with that level of frequency.  This was before Mirror Moon created a translation patch for any of these games.  These were guys who bought the game direct from Japan, paid the outrageous import fees, referred constantly to a GameFAQs walkthrough, and died like men.  It was that, or learn Japanese.  Most of them opted for the walkthrough. Thank Whoever you believe in that the game runs windowed, I guess.

Fate, which has been the bread and butter of Type-Moon’s success for well over a decade now, was a commercial game.  But it was one built with on the base of the huge support Tsukihime had garnered following its launch.  Tsukihime itself was a doujin game, made when the guys at Type-Moon were a bunch of nobodies and had no real money to speak of.

Because they were nobodies, and because they needed the game to sell big if they were going to make the kind of money they needed to make, they did what a lot of Japanese doujin developers have done and continue to do, and will probably do until the end of time, and put porn in the game.

This is not unknown in Western development circles either, just for the record. But Japanese culture is in some ways more permissive when it comes to depictions of sex or sex-adjacent topics and material in their mainstream entertainment.  Porn can net you a decent career, or at least a halfway-decent living, and it’s generally easier over there for porn artists in any field of endeavor to “go legit” and make the jump to the non-porn version of their field.

That doesn’t happen in the West, or at any rate not in America.  Or very rarely. We have (for better or worse; there’s a whole separate debate there) a much sharper division between the porn and non-porn sides of the entertainment industry, and that barrier’s much less porous. But porn fans will support you.  If the success ceiling is far lower than in the legitimate side of the industry, it’s also true that the floor is likewise lower.

So here we have Tsukihime.  Not “porn with plot”, or even “plot with porn”, but “plot (…with porn)”.  It’s there because they were worried the game wouldn’t sell without it, and so there’s not much of it in the first place.  What I’m saying is that if you’re wanting to get your rocks off, you’re going to be a while.

Which is not to say that Tsukihime as a game is inherently like… progressive, or woke, or anything like that.  Oh no. Nonononono.  It’s horror (-ish, depending on your route), for starters – a genre that thrives on objectification and exploitation.  And then it’s Japanese, which gives it an extra few layers of seeming weird to American sensibilities.  So this is less like going down the rabbit hole and potentially more like falling into a snake pit.

I say all this to lend some context.  When we think of Type-Moon today, we tend to think of this highly successful production house with a star franchise that’s rapidly hitting the market saturation point.  If it hasn’t already (and I have a friend who maintains that it has). And that is absolutely not Tsukihime.  Not the game, and certainly not the anime.  No ufotable animating, no Yuki Kajiura composing, no Gen Urobuchi directing the critically acclaimed and popularly loved (and irritatingly overpriced) prequel.

This is Tsukihime.  This isn’t the property that launched Type-Moon to stardom.  That would, again, be Fate.  This is the property that let them make Fate the way they did.  Tsukihime is the visual novel world’s equivalent of some garage band you never heard of releasing their demo tape as their debut album, and the demo tape is actually pretty good, even as it suffers from having basically rock-bottom production values.  It’s one of those things where the whole is more than the sum of its parts.  You have to look at what it tries to be and tries to do, and like it for that. In that much at least, even as they differ in many other ways, that much is true of both the anime and the visual novel.

It’s worth it, though.

Phantasmal Fantasy

If we’re being honest (and why wouldn’t we be honest?), Tsukihime, at least going through the main route, is a little bit less straight horror and a little more what I think of as horror-fantasy.  It isn’t horror because it’s rarely if ever actually frightening.  But it uses horror aesthetics in a fantasy setting (urban fantasy, in this case), which may lend things a generally eerie and unsettling sense of ambiance and a particular feeling of threat to the main characters without ever quite getting your pulse up.  It’s a hybrid genre I happen to have a huge soft spot for (I’ve been reliably informed that this is sort of My Thing).  The entire Legacy of Kain series falls under that banner for me, as do most of the Castlevania games.  The Dark Souls games all have it to some extent, and Bloodborne leans into it hard enough that it actually is kind of legitimately scary at various points.  And then there are movies like Vampire Hunter D.

Lunar Legend Tsukihime, the anime based on the visual novel Tsukihime, was released in the early to mid 2000s.  On a technical level, it’s very middle-of-the-road, with a bit of a generic visual style and workmanlike animation.  But we’re talking about an anime based on a doujin hentai game.  More mainstream visual novels’ adaptations tend to get better treatment.  Tsukihime is well-regarded, but probably not really “popular” in the same sense as something like, say, Da Capo or Little Busters or Air, or...  Look, Type-Moon’s getting the star treatment was pretty much going to be impossible at that stage.  It took Tsukihime and the first Fate adaptation before we got to that point.  That the Tsukihime anime happened at all is honestly kind of remarkable, and a testament to how much of an impact the game made.

Tsukihime takes place in the modern day (well, modern for the date of its release, which for the game was 2000, and for the anime would be 2003 or so).  It’s a vampire story, of sorts, though the only creatures we’d recognize as traditional vampires are a minor threat at best.

Our main character, or at any rate, our viewpoint character, is Shiki Tohno.  He’s part of a large, wealthy, and presumably powerful family, though he lives with an aunt and uncle whose ways and means are much more middle-class than his father, the head of the family.  He was banished from the main estate eight years ago, shipped off to live with his aunt and uncle after an accident when he was about eight.

He doesn’t remember much about the accident.  He (and therefore we) are initially told it was a car accident, and that it damaged his heart. He has fainting spells occasionally if he over-exerts himself, and otherwise generally anemic symptoms.  Something to do with damage to his heart after the accident; it’s not really clear.  The weakness makes him an unfit heir to be head of the family, hence his being put aside.

The real change in him is far stranger, and far harder to understand.

While recovering in the hospital, he begins to see odd lines running through everything, making the world look fractured.  He discovers that if he cuts along those lines with a blade or other edged implement, the object will simply fall apart along those lines.  It takes little to no force to do this.  He could cut down a tree simply by dragging the edge of a knife along a particular line on its trunk, a line invisible to anyone but him.  His attempts to convince others that these lines exist fall on deaf ears, and only cause concern for his mental state.

One day during his recovery, while wandering around outside, he runs across a woman named Aoko Aozaki who not only believes him, but understands what’s happening.  She explains to him that he has a rare ability – perhaps the only one in the world with it – known as the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.  What he is seeing is the inevitable destruction and dissolution, the “death”, of every person and object around him.  The lines are the only way his brain can make sense of it, as this is something the human mind doesn’t readily grasp.  She gives him a pair of glasses which make the lines go away while he wears them, and which therefore allow him to go on with his life as normal.  She tells him that he mustn’t use this power of his unless absolutely necessary.

Shiki lives his life normally from that point forward, until one day while he’s in high school, he receives notice that his father has passed away, and Shiki is to move back into the main estate.  Said estate is in the same town, so much of his day-to-day should remain the same – same friends, same school, same daily routine.

But a strange thing happens on his way to the manor after school.  While resting in the park, he sees a young woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and a white sweater.  From out of nowhere, he is overcome with a furious, murderous impulse.  His body seems to move on its own, with no input or control from him.  Off come the glasses, out comes the knife he carries with him, and he’s off chasing her.  Bad things happen.

He wakes up in the Tohno mansion, having blacked out and been retrieved by Hisui, one of the two maids of the home.  She dresses as a Western maid, while her twin sister, Kohaku, also a maid, prefers a kimono.  

But his arrival at the manor comes with significant culture shock.  In the wake of his father’s passing, possession of the manor and the position of head of family have both fallen to his younger sister, Akiha, whom he hasn’t seen since his accident some eight years ago.  His memory of her is a little hazy, but he seems taken aback by the polite but stern young lady she’s grown into.  Altogether, the four of them – Akiha, Shiki, Kohaku, and Hisui – are the only inhabitants of the house.  

Shiki finds its size and sense of isolation intimidating, all the more because his daily life in and around the house is in for a massive shake-up.  For starters, there’s a strict curfew, and also no television.  When Shiki objects, Akiha puts her foot down, and seems determined that he will live according to the family’s ways and rules, or…  Well, there is no “or else”.  He just will, end of story.

So he sneaks out to go buy some snacks and magazines.  On his way, he is accosted by one of his classmates, Ciel.  But here, she’s dressed in an odd outfit, carrying a set of deadly-sharp swords, and seems intent on killing him until she satisfies herself that he poses no threat.

The next day, further weirdness ensues.  He encounters the blonde lady, the one he thought he killed, very much alive and well.  His initial relief that he didn’t actually kill her is quickly undone by her assertion that actually, he did, and with rare skill and gusto.  She then goes on to describe the exact cuts he used to slice her into seventeen separate pieces.  

Then it gets stranger.

She is, she tells him, a vampire, albeit not all that much like what you’d think of when the word comes to mind.  And no, she doesn’t sparkle.  Her name is Arcueid Brunestud, and she’s hunting an enemy of hers who’s in the area, and is responsible for a string of murders and mysterious deaths that have been occurring lately.  She was doing well enough until Shiki came along murdered her.  While she was able to recover from this inconvenience, their encounter has left her in a weakened state.  Now she needs help, and who better than the one who put her in this position in the first place?

Twists, Turns, and Dead Ends

I’m a little conflicted about the problem with the Tsukihime anime.  I can’t decide whether its creators overestimated what they could do in twelve episodes, or underestimated the material and the time it needed.  I supposed it really doesn’t make much difference.  Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Bad news first.

There are some technical issues with the show, which are probably the least of its problems.  The art style is kind of lackluster and workmanlike, and the animation is overall pretty by-the-numbers.  There are numerous moments where you can see drawing or animation shortcuts were taken, and there are lots of long shots where the camera lingers on one place or on one person well beyond what’s necessary for drama.  On the other hand, the more important action scenes do see a slight jump in quality, so maybe the producers were keeping something up their sleeve for when it counted.  

The English voice work is serviceable.  The actors’ voices are by and large a good fit for the roles, but the acting is occasionally a little wooden. The writing is somewhat off as well.  Shiki disappears from his normal life for a while in the third and fourth episodes, and his friends’ and family’s discussions of it once he resurfaces don’t seem to agree on the times he was gone – at one point, even within the same conversation.  This may be a translation or dub writing error, though.  There are other weird gaffes (this time in the original script), such as that Shiki doesn’t notice that Kohaku and Hisui are identical twins. This despite the fact that their only notable differences are eye color and wardrobe.

But these are mostly technical troubles, and they’re things I can overlook pretty easily.  The writing errors are never so serious that I get confused about what’s going on, and the artwork issues aren’t too out of line, either.  Certainly I’ve seen other shows from the time that did worse and more often.

The real issues \with Tsukihime, and the problem most of the original game’s fans have, stem from the way it’s adapted from the game.

Like a lot of visual novels, Tsukihime has multiple routes, and many if not all of them are mutually exclusive.  In fact, some don’t even involve Arcueid, who you’ll remember is one of the main characters. This presents some difficulties when making a TV series.  On the one hand, there is a canon route, and you could probably make a decent twelve-episode TV series out of just that.  On the other hand, there are lots of fans who prefer the alternate routes, who would be pissed if their favorite characters showcased in those routes weren’t given some screen time, and so you want to give them something.  And, too, one of the intriguing things about a game like Tsukihime is all the lore and world-building that makes these divergent plotlines possible and interesting.  Even when not pursued, elements of those routes may come up one way or another, and lend a certain richness and depth to the story.  It would be a shame to leave that on the cutting room floor.

Another possibility the show’s creators could take is to craft their own continuity, essentially creating a story hybridized from multiple routes from the game while not adhering strictly to any one of them, and create a single story that way.  This hypothetical hybrid story would then be better able to explore more of the background and lore, and incorporate that richness into its own new canon.  But that would take probably more than twelve episodes, and twelve was all Tsukihime got.  For anyone who’s curious about what this approach might look like, there’s a manga adaptation that incorporates elements of the other routes into the main story.  It’s out of print now, sadly.  Originally published by ComicsOne, it was taken over by DrMaster after ComicsOne went out of business.  Then DrMaster themselves went out...

Anyway, the compromise measure that the show’s creators eventually decided on was to largely tell one story (the Near Side routes, particularly the Arcueid route), while throwing in bits and pieces from other routes… and then never following up on them.  There wind up being a few non sequiturs and narrative dead ends or red herrings, almost as a kind of wink and nod to say that the show’s makers at least know those possibilities exist.  But this results in the show being unfocused.  For instance, a couple of episodes build up the Problem With the Tohno Bloodline, but this ultimately doesn’t figure into the story.  This material comes from what the game refers to as the Far Side routes, and those developments largely go unnoticed during the Near Side routes which the anime’s plot focuses on.  The problem is, again, that these are mutually exclusive as the presented in the original game.  Weaving them together in the “new continuity” approach would be fine – maybe ideal for the anime, even – but it would take an amount of alteration to the continuity that the anime never makes.  It winds up being less of a problem than it sounds like, but it does manage to be frustrating.

The main story, meanwhile, hints at interesting elements from the broader cosmological background that the game establishes (and which later Type-Moon games borrow and build upon), but many of those elements never quite leave the background.  This leaves a frustrating sense of massive, powerful forces and entities moving in the background, that there is something far larger happening that we are not even quite glimpsing, but only being given hints of.  

But if it sometimes seems that Tsukihime only scratches the surface of the greater and deeper lore of its setting, that lore and setting are still compelling.  There’s an almost Lovecraftian sense of cosmic scale to the supernatural as it’s presented in Tsukihime.  Arcueid, Nvrnqsr Chaos (no, that’s not a typo; it’s the real name of an adversary in the game, though the anime presents it as Nero Chaos instead), and her ultimate enemy, Roa – all of them are connected to higher forces and entities.  The murders occurring in Shiki’s city are the most minor of problems in the grand scheme of things.  This is what makes the anime both fascinating and frustrating.  It shows us this conflict, but refuses to give the full context for it.  So much seems to be held back; the full natures of these characters goes unexplored.

I like a little mystery.  I like it when some things are unexplained, or when the answers are there to be found rather than to be given.  It’s one of the things I love about Dark Souls and Bloodborne.  But the story of Tsukihime fails to explore these mysteries in a way I find really satisfying.

I feel like this is the root of why a certain overly vocal segment of the fandom chooses not to acknowledge the anime.  Coming to it from the game, I can see where it might seem a little disappointing.  Many of these hooks can seem like teases to those who understand their significance enough to be upset that they ultimately don’t deliver.

But that’s not the experience that either I or my wife had watching the anime.  We both came to it before we ever knew anything of the game.  For us, those odd hooks were just moments where we went, “Huh.  Weird,” and carried on watching the show.  Sure, there was clear and unaddressed significance, but it wasn’t a problem.  If anything, it made me more curious about the game.

The show may seem meandering to some, but to me, I just tend to think of its pace as sedate.  It doesn’t really dig into the characters’ backstories, but it does help to develop them and give them room to breathe.  

In particular, the anime spends a lot of time developing Arcueid.  We see that despite her power, and her potential for wrath and violence, she’s surprisingly cute and innocent-seeming at times, and actually innocent when it comes to some things.  You can see her interest in Shiki grow, but she seems unable to express it.  Her attempts at being normal can come across as almost mocking, when they are instead sincere and well-meant, but hopelessly clueless.

What we learn of her story is somewhat sparse, but we know that she spends most of her time asleep, awakening only to deal with threats like Roa.  The reasons for this are complicated, at least enough so as to be beyond the scope of this writing.  Suffice it to say that there’s a wiki if you’re after more information.  Just be warned: The writing there is pretty iffy.  Anyway, Arcueid is capable of getting by just fine on her own (when some inconsiderate dick doesn’t just up and murder her, anyway), but it’s also clear that, thanks to spending most of her time asleep, she doesn’t really understand a lot of what’s going on around her.  There’s a kind of obliviousness to her that might be frustrating in another character in a different show, but is somehow just endearing here.  Like my wife said at one point: You just want to hug her.  Which is not, you know, the normal reaction you have with vampires.  “Aloof”, “compelling”, “seductive”…  These are the words we tend to think of when it comes to vampiric “affection” in fiction.  “Huggable” doesn’t really show up on the list.  And yet, here we are.

There’s a certain cat-like quality to her.  Elegant, graceful, mysterious, sometimes selfish, frequently endearing, and occasionally ridiculous.  There’s comedy in her situation.  Shiki, despite his powers, is otherwise kind of a dork who could not be more clearly in over his head, at least at the start.  He spends most of the series bewildered, confused, scared, and very occasionally snapping and completely losing his shit against some eldritch horror.  And yet he’s the one who has to keep Arcueid grounded (to the extent that this is really even possible) and basically explain to her how the world works.  In some ways, it’s really Arcueid’s story.

The pace of the series helps it build a sense of brooding mystery as it explores the twin dilemmas of finding a way to stop Roa and figuring out Shiki’s uncertain place in and relation to the rest of the Tohno family.  And as you might suspect, these two problems aren’t as separate as they first seem.

If nothing else, the opening theme is just about perfect.  Subdued, mysterious, haunting; it sets the mood of the show almost perfectly, in a way that comes close to over-promising on what the anime actually delivers.  It definitely sets a mood.

That mood is one I tend to get into around this time of year.  I’m normally a night person in the first place.  No amount of working mostly first-shift jobs over the last two decades has changed the fact that there’s some part of me that wakes up when the sun goes down, and wants to stay up until the sunrise.  I like to be out and about in the dark.  I can remember back when I was in college, I would be out with friends trying to find any reason at all to stay out as late as possible.  Later in life, I’d duck out long after everyone else was asleep and go for roaming walks at night (at least, back when I lived in a reasonable neighborhood).  With fall here, the urge just gets stronger.  

There’s something of that feeling I get from Tsukihime, large portions of which involve that same nocturnal roaming, and take place in the nighttime times of life.  And I enjoy stories about monsters and the supernatural – I went through something of a vampire fascination phase when I was younger, and still maintain a certain amount of interest – and so those things alone might have gotten my attention.

Fuck the haters; the Tsukihime anime exists, and it’s good.  Not great, and not as good as it might have been, but it’s fine.  If it’s not exactly gripping, edge-of-your-seat suspense, it’s still an entertaining way to spend the better part of five or six hours.  Certainly worth a watch if you can track it down.  

Tsukihime tells an odd, interesting story – moody, dark, weird, mysterious, fantastical – all things I like.  A story of supernatural threats, monsters, mystery, and marauders in the night.  It’s hard to think of anything more appropriate for fall – for October – for Halloween.

Availability

The DVD release for Lunar Legend Tsukihime was originally handled by Geneon in both Japan and the U.S., since they were part of the original production committee.  After they folded, it was picked up by Sentai Filmworks, one of the several splinter companies that rose from the ashes of ADV’s implosion in the late aughts.  

Geneon’s release was evidently a multi-volume affair.  Which seems ludicrous today, when you typically buy an entire season of twelve episodes or so all at once these days, in a single set.  But Geneon (which had previously been Pioneer) had been around since the VHS days, and a lot of those companies in some sense inherited the mindset that had governed the VHS release schedule, which was to release a volume every couple of months or so, with three or four episodes on each one, and that was that.

Sentai Filmworks’ version is a two-disc, single-volume set, so that would probably be the way to go.  Especially if shelf space is a concern.  

There is no Blu-ray release, and honestly, it’s hard to imagine what Blu-ray would really do for the show.  At any rate, it seems to be out of print currently.  Geneon, of course, folded about a decade or so ago. And although Sentai Filmworks lists it in their catalog, there’s no option to buy.  And it doesn’t appear to be available for legal streaming anywhere.  Like a lot of older (and I hate to think of this as “older” – I remember being an adult when it was new) – maybe I should say somewhat older anime – Amazon and eBay are your best bet if you’re interested.  

Postscript the First – The Anime versus the Game

Tsukihime, as a visual novel with multiple routes, contains far more material than the TV series.  HOWEVER, please consider this paragraph your giant, flashing, neon-lit trigger warning for content potentially involving sex, assault, sexual assault (of various kinds), incest, violation of consent, and more violence than the anime producers could show even with the series airing at otaku o’clock.

Just to be up-front for a moment, I haven’t played much of the game.  Much of my information comes secondhand, or else is the result of reading the Type-Moon wiki and talking with friends who’ve played through it. I’ve yet to finish a single route.  I’d like to, and I occasionally chip away at it here and there, but the problems are twofold.

The first problem – probably the main problem – is the low level of engagement.  I get curious about visual novels from time to time, but they’re always a little too easy to put down, and a little too hard to pick up.  And that may seem strange, since there’s so little to do in one.  The amount of effort involved is nil.  But that’s just the thing.  I often wrestle with whether or not I even consider them to be games at all.  And, look: It’s not like I think visual novels are unworthy of anyone’s time.  They’re fine.  Largely not my cup of tea, but fine.  But what you do in a visual novel could hardly be called playing, any more than you “play” a Choose Your Own Adventure book.  There are no mechanics, no maneuvering through the world, no use of skills.  Just decisions to make, and those not very often.  The thing about an actual game is that I’m mentally engaged, fully occupied and firing on all (or most) cylinders.  When I want to play a game, that’s what I’m after.  And visual novels just don’t offer that.

Of course, I do love to read, and so it would seem like they should be right up my alley for that reason at least.  But no.  The writing is actually my second problem.

So far as I’ve observed, which admittedly isn’t much, most Japanese visual novels translated into English are pretty awkward, and this is probably a combination of factors.  One is that what constitutes good writing (in terms of how the language is deployed) in Japanese differs considerably from what constitutes good writing in English.  It’s not just visual novels, mind you.  The couple Haruki Murakami books I’ve read have both also seemed off to some degree as well.  I think it’s just something in the translation, some difference between English and Japanese in the matters of word choice, rhythm, and flow, and the sense for how these things work in each.  I sincerely think that making a Japanese work really sing in English would involve a level of change that most translators (and visual novel fans in particular, given their greater likelihood of being total Japanophiles) are deeply uncomfortable with.

But beyond the general problem of Japanese-to-English writing, there’s the problem of Kinoko Nasu in particular, who is Type-Moon’s writer.

Nasu is, I think, something of a Lovecraft disciple, with his cosmic-scale sense for horror.  But he’s also like Lovecraft in another very important and distinct way, which is that despite having really interesting ideas that set my imagination on fire, he actually can not fucking write.

I’m sorry, Lovecraft fans, I really am, but it’s true.  Deep down, you all know it.  Lovecraft, for his part, was a man who at some point earlier in his life swallowed a thesaurus, and was then hell-bent on vomiting it out over every page he wrote ever afterward.  He never used one word if he could find a way to use five or six to say the same thing, never used a simple, elegant, and concise word when he knew a more complex one, and his style has so little flow you’d need an electron microscope to find it.  You could make a workout of running back and forth to the dictionary while reading his work.  Or you could make it a drinking game.  And then die, of alcohol poisoning.

He had some great ideas, once you got past the writing, and the multiple onion-like layers of intense racism.  And he was intensely racist; let’s not forget that.  Not just “racist because it’s the 1920s or ‘30s and basically everyone white is racist right now,” I mean racist even for those times.  People back then were a little weirded out by how much he hated the Jews, and black people, and anyone else who wasn’t the right shade of paper-white.  But even just focusing on his writing, the feeling remains that he was not the best vehicle for his stories, and that’s just how it is.  The most aching, taxing, fucking grueling reading I have ever done on stories I still actually liked is mostly found between the covers of the various Lovecraft compendia I have lying around the house.  I like his stories; I just don’t like reading them much.

Nasu may well be his reincarnation (and oh, would it ever have horrified Lovecraft to be reincarnated as a Japanese person).  A common complaint I’ve heard about Nasu’s writing (from people who’ve read it in Japanese) is that he has good ideas, but just isn’t a skilled writer.  Now, I’m not qualified to really dissect how he comes across in his own culture, but when translated into English, he’s a painful read.  Maybe it’s the fault of the group responsible for the translation (Mirror Moon), but at the very least, I can confidently state that he should stay out of porn.  His sex scenes have some of the least sexy and most unintentionally hilarious writing I’ve seen in my life.  It’s why I think that even Fate didn’t really take off to become the absolute phenomenon it is until after we started to get anime adaptations of it.  Those adaptations would all have been written by other people, or at least had some amount of editing or collaboration to dilute the worst of his influence, letting the good ideas shine through without Nasu’s own writing griming everything up.

I don’t have a lot of basis for comparison, but I feel like on a technical level, Tsukihime is pretty basic.  The character artwork is nice enough, with a distinct style.  The backgrounds, though, are in most cases very clearly photographs that have been filtered or otherwise manipulated so as not to clash too badly with the character art.  This was probably a shortcut to save time or money, or both.  

On the balance, I’d say it’s worth looking into, with the major caveat that there’s a lot of stuff in it that didn’t (and couldn’t) make it into the anime, that makes the story overall much darker and more sinister than the anime could manage.  Unfortunately, it’s going to be hard to find.  There’s only the original version released in 2000.  There’s talk of a sequel and a remake, but the amount of time that’s passed for no more attention or work than the project has received, to the extent that these things have become running gags in the fandom.  They probably are things that the higher-ups at Type-Moon really do mean to create at some point, but which aren’t a huge priority for them, and so are very, very back-burner projects.

As I mentioned above, the anime and the game are both similar in that their quality persists despite somewhat lacking production values.  But the anime’s middle-of-the-road budget and somewhat generic style was never the problem.  The game, meanwhile, was pretty clearly made on a close-to-shoestring budget, but this actually doesn’t matter nearly as much.  Visuals novels live and die on their writing, ideas, and artwork, I think.  Rarely if ever do they rely on really cutting-edge graphics for their impact.  And in truth, Tsukihime the game was always going to be marred far more by Nasu’s writing than anything technical.  

A nice upside is that, since we’re privy to Shiki’s internal monologue, he comes across as a more interesting character.  He seems to sometimes just float through the story in the anime, with bouts of intensity here and there when things go wrong or he’s totally lost it.  But the game gives us his thoughts, and we get a better handle on why he does the things he does.

For English-speaking fans, there are walkthroughs, of course.  But if that understandably sounds like too much of a pain in the ass, there’s also a fan translation (unauthorized) by Mirror Moon.  In addition to rendering the game into English, I believe it also introduces an option for removing the sex scenes.  So for those who are uncomfortable with those, this will answer that concern, at least.  

Postscript the Second – Alternate Takes: Kara no Kyoukai

Frequently referred to in English-speaking circles by its subtitle, The Garden of Sinners, Kara no Kyoukai (which Wikipedia tells us means something like “Boundary of Emptiness”) is an interesting story from Kinoko Nasu’s early days.  It began publication (independently) in August of 1998, and is set in that timeframe.  Originally a series of novels, it’s primarily known in the U.S. as a boxed set of seven movies (plus a stand-alone eighth) priced exorbitantly by Aniplex USA (the Blu-ray boxed set for the first seven will set you back a cool $400).  These movies tell the story of a different Shiki, this time a young woman who wears a kimono, boots, and red leather jacket, named Shiki Ryogi.  

There are pretty clear linkages between it and Tsukihime, though these are thematic rather than narrative, and the result of ideas being reused.  Nasu began writing Kara no Kyoukai first, and seems to have cannibalized some of its concepts for Tsukihime. The two stories take place in alternate universes.  As with Tsukihime, this version of Shiki also has the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, although Kara no Kyoukai’s Shiki does actually come by them after an automobile accident.  There’s also a redheaded sorceress with the last name Aozaki (Touko instead of Aoko), and I want to say that I’ve read somewhere that they’re sisters, and that Touko traveled to this alternate reality from the “main” one where Tsukihime and Fate take place. She was initially envisioned with sort of pixie-cut blue hair, but was converted for the movies into a redhead like her sister Aoko, and Nasu decided he liked the change so much that it became canon.

But although it features a Shiki with the Mystic Eyes, she shares the spotlight with Mikiya Kokuto, who’s a dead ringer for the Shiki of Tsukihime. His personality’s different – he lacks Shiki Tohno’s deeply buried killer instinct, for a start.  Mikiya has no special abilities beyond a knack for information-gathering and a better-than-average capacity for deductive reasoning.  Moreover, even without any special powers of his own, he seems to move with relative comfort in a world full of sorcerers and mystical murderers, in part by keeping an open mind, taking nothing for granted, keeping his assumptions in check, and taking everything as it comes.  He works as an investigator for Touko’s paranormal detective agency, Garan-no-Dou. Shiki is mostly the muscle.

Mikiya has a younger sister, Azaka, who in her turn looks an awful lot like Shiki Tohno’s sister Akiha.  Except for in flashbacks, where she looks like a young Rin Tohsaka from Fate instead.  As with Tsukihime, she is attracted to her brother.  Unlike Tsukihime, the two of them are actually blood siblings, so... At least with Kara no Kyoukai, this profound failure of the Westermarck Effect is entirely one-sided; Mikiya has eyes only for Shiki.  TV Tropes would undoubtedly describe it as Single-Target Sexuality.  

There are any number of other parallels between the two, but these are the most obvious.  Much of the background lore seems to be similar between the two series, although Kara no Kyoukai doesn’t use the same parts of it, and doesn’t dig into the parts it does use quite as much.  It’s much less concerned with cosmic entities like Arcueid or Roa or Nvrnqsr Chaos, and more concerned with its characters as individuals, and how they relate to each other.  That isn’t to say that it doesn’t dive into the sort of metaphysical strangeness on display in Tsukihime and Fate – Kara no Kyoukai is aggressively weird – but its metaphysical struggles are more self-contained, connected more directly to the characters and less tied to the cosmological backdrop.

The movies were released in Japan beginning in 2007, almost a decade after the novels began publication, and well after the successes of Tsukihime and the first Fate series. They’re animated by ufotable, and feature Yuki Kajiura as the composer.  I’d encourage anyone interested to track them down, though I know the price tag can be offputting.  Aside from high-quality video and sound, the set is pretty bare-bones.  There’s no English audio track; in fact, the impression I get is that this is basically just the Japanese Blu-ray release, re-encoded for Region 1. This includes the movies’ proper titles not being displayed in English anywhere on the discs or cases, so you have to do a little sleuthing to figure out which movies are which.  This is doubly aggravating considering that the intended viewing order isn’t chronological, so it’s not immediately apparent if you’ve started with the wrong movie.  If you feel totally lost and like you’ve just come into the middle of things, then it’s highly likely you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.  Thankfully, the menus are in English, and the subtitles are serviceable.

There’s a DVD version of the boxed set that costs less – I want to say the whole boxed set went for something like $200 – which is still a decent chunk of change, but more reasonable for a set of seven movies. Unfortunately, a quick browse of Amazon makes it seem even harder to find than the Blu-ray set.  And, sadly, there are no legal streaming options for this series.

[rockrevoltmagazine]

INTERVIEW: Nick Mason "The Living Dead Drummer"

Nicholas Mason (AKA The Living Dead Drummer) has performed all over the world with artists as wide ranging as Shania Twain to Beasto Blanco. He is a highly experienced pro drummer with a level of motivation and drive in his work ethic that has made him rise above the pack with appearances on GLEE, MasterChef, Cartoon Network, Showtime, FOX, and ABC.

What is your professional history as a drummer?

Hmmm… Let’s see…

I started playing out in bands when I was in high school, and teaching music lessons at age 18. By the time I was in my early 20’s I was playing in groups that were traveling and doing some small touring. It kind of just progressed over time, weekend tours turned into week-long runs and so on. I got a taste for the hired gun thing early on. Some friends asked me to fill in for their band when they lost the drummer. Having to learn someone else’s music was unique and I enjoyed getting to experience different types of playing situations and styles. Being available for outside work has led me to some amazing opportunities. It’s allowed me to work with insanely talented artists, perform in huge arenas and festivals, and travel the globe. 

What was the spark that inspired you to become a drummer?

My family. I grew up with a very musically supportive environment. My Father is a guitarist and owns a prominent Guitar Repair business in Western NY. My Mother, along with her entire side of the family is all drummers! And I mean, like the entire family! Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and if you didn’t play the drums you married a drummer, or your kid became a drummer. So picking up the sticks was more of a heritage. 

You share the same name as Pink Floyd’s drummer. How do you handle any confusion?

Yes, that’s true. Not planned, total coincidence. I try to be polite when it comes to confusion, but I have to admit there have been times when it does get under my skin. Mainly because some people see a name and jump to an assumption without looking at the evidence surrounding it. Especially in an age of social media where a photo is typically displayed above the name, and should be obvious that I’m not in my 70’s, or the lack of mention of Pink Floyd anyplace on my internet presence. I get it if it’s something different like making a phone call and the recipient gets a “Nick Mason on line one” message. That’s forgivable. Having the “Living Dead Drummer” title the last few years has really helped move me farther away from the confusion and reinforce my individuality in the music industry. These days it’s less frequent that people mistake me for him, and more “Oh, you have the same name as,” and an afterthought. 

What have been some of the biggest performances and stages of your career?

I’ve had the pleasure of playing at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Key Bank Center  in Buffalo (Then called HSBC Arena), Baseball stadiums, Sahlen Field, also in Buffalo, and Petco Park in San Diego. I also did the Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas a couple times. Those EDC crowds can get up to 100,000 per night!!

How did you land on the name Living Dead Drummer?

A few years ago the Coffin Case company was celebrating their 20th anniversary. They had always done a fashion show at the annual NAMM show in Anaheim. I was asked to contribute in some manner for the big anniversary. We came up with the idea that myself and another drummer buddy of mine would flank the stage with out drum kits. The Coffin Girls would do the runway modeling to classic metal songs between the kits. They had us all done up in horror makeup and outfits so we looked as if we just crawled out of the grave. It was sick! It was in the dressing room, while we were getting our makeup done, that I first got referred to as a “Living Dead Drummer.” The light bulb went off over my head, and I took the idea and ran with it. Bought the website, changed all my social media over, and registered it every place I possibly could. It just made perfect sense. I love horror, I love drums, and because of my work ethic people frequently ask “When do you sleep?” I don’t, I’m “Living Dead.” Hahaha. 

What’s the key to staying flexible with all the different types of bands you play with?

Proper planning with your calendar. Whenever I’m in contact with a new potential client I always try to be as up front as possible. My schedule is first come first serve, and if I’m already obligated with another artist then I’m not available for you. I want to give everyone I work with 100% and it wouldn’t be fair if I canceled or rescheduled one person for another. I’ve found that as long as I’m honest, and establish these things right from the get-go most people are cool with it. I do tend to be a bit of a workaholic, and want to please everyone. It’s not uncommon for me to book multiple gigs in one evening, on top of rehearsals and teaching lessons all day. 

What are some things about your style that shows off your uniqueness and individuality?

I strive for accuracy and a good pocket in my playing. I want every note to be intentional and consistent. If I play a ghost note, it was on purpose, If I hit with this side of the stick versus that side, or accent this note and not that one. It was on purpose. I’m also no stranger to getting a little flashy and “performing” while on stage. I’m a firm believer that while on stage our job is to entertain, and no one goes to a live music concert, especially a rock concert, to listen to music. They go to watch a show. If you can’t give them something to watch you’re failing at your job. 

What life experiences have had the most influence on your current musical performance choices?

When I was fresh out of college I landed a job in the music industry doing Artist Relations. It was the only “real” job I ever had. It was great, and I learned a lot about how the industry operates. I was exposed to a whole world that I’d only read about in the trades. However, I quickly learned that it wasn’t for me. It cut too much into my time as a teacher and performer. Prior to that job I was teaching five days a week, at three different music stores, and playing out in multiple bands. All of a sudden I had a nine-to-five, with a 401K. I had to drastically reduce my student roster, and all my bands had to wait until I had vacation time to hit the road. Working in Artist Relations meant that I spent all day talking to other musicians who were out there doing what I wanted. I needed to be the guy on the other end of the phone, like they were. I split after only three years and dedicated my life to being that guy. 

What artists have had an influence on your drumming styles?

I borrow from a lot a people! I was always a big Metallica fan growing up, especially in the early 90’s when I first started playing the drums. Lars has such intensity and energy on stage! Josh Freese, I discovered when A Perfect Circle debuted. I was so impressed with the creativity on that first album, that I had to look him up, and found that I has unknowingly been listening to him for years! His resume reads like a Billboard Top 100 list. Seeing that is what pushed me to want to work more as a hired gun. What’s better than being in one successful band? Being a part of ALL the successful bands!! Another band I grew up on was Aerosmith. Joey Kramer basically taught me how to play a song. Sure, I learned drum patterns, and rudiments, and formal music stuff rom my teachers, but learning song structure, and dynamic choices between a chorus and verse, or when to pick up the energy in a solo or song outro? That was the writing of Aerosmith, and Joey’s approach to his drum parts. On a visual and creative stand point there’s the dynamic duo of Sully Erna and Shannon Larkin from Godsmack. Sully’s known for being the bands front man, but he’s a jack of all trades and started as a drummer. I think at this point it’s common knowledge that he was behind the kit on Godsmack’s first two albums, and a large chunk of the ones following. The drumming on those first two in particular I found to be really creative. Tight Hi Hats, where you might think a more open sound would have been placed. And some really creative kick drum patterns that all felt like the song was entirely written around the groove instead of the melody dictating the rhythm. Once Shannon joined the band in the early 2000’s it kicked up a notch. I saw them perform for the first time in 2003. Front and center against the guardrail! Shannon’s energy on stage, start to end, left me feeling exhausted as if I was the one on stage for an hour! He was like a human rubber band, whipping his whole body back and forth to the beat right from the first note. I went out and bought the DVD from that tour right after and analyzed his movements on stage. The monkey arms, the stick tosses, I watched and said “I could do that!” 

How do you connect and engage the audience from behind your kit?

I like to try and make eye contact with people if possible, and let them know I know they are watching. It’s not always easy. Depends on the size of the room, or stage, and frequently the lighting can kind of make it impossible to see anyone past the singers butt. However, if I can catch you I’ll make it known. There have been times where I had the opportunity to come out from behind the kit and step right up front and interact with the crowd. When I toured with Pinky Doodle Poodle, a Japanese rock band, they had a part written into the show where we hit a break in one specific song. I wasn’t supposed to cue us back in until the crowd started getting loud. I milked that for every penny! I’d walk right out to the front of the stage and get them screaming, and start playing games with them. Getting everyone to play follow the leader with clapping or teasing them. The bigger the crowd we would have the more fun it was and the more participatory the audience would be. 

Any videos in the works? Which songs and what concepts are you working with?

I don’t really do the YouTube cover thing. However, I do try to post short clips from live performances or recording sessions regularly on social media. I’ll upload longer clips and full songs to my YouTube channel. Again, they are mainly from live shows or recording sessions. I want my audience to see me in a real environment. On stage in front of an audience, or in a studio tracking drums on a song you’re going to be able to own soon. 

What’s one of the hardest parts about touring? Have you had anything embarrassing happen while performing?

I really like touring, I’m very comfortable with that kind of daily schedule. The hardest part is probably dealing with people, hahaha. Not everyone is cut out for it, and I’ve been in plenty of situations where someone’s ego gets in the way. Many first time touring musicians also have a lot of misconceptions about being on the road, especially an indi/dyi kind of tour. It makes it incredibly uncomfortable because now you’re stuck with that person, or persons day in and day out. I can’t think of anything super embarrassing that may have happened. I mean, everyone has a bad night once and a while, where you just don’t perform at the level you should. In my early days I had a few mishaps that have become more “fun stories” than embarrassing. I broke a finger on stage by bashing it on the rim of the snare drum accidentally. On a separate occasion I broke the bottom head on not one, but two snares! Thankfully the second one broke during the last song of the night, but I was so pissed off I picked the drum up and threw it off stage. I think I’d handle that in a more mature way now, haha. 

You also teach quite a bit. Tell us about that.

I do teach! I started teaching private drum lessons just shy of 20 years ago. I know that may make me sound old, but I actually started teaching at a young age. I didn’t really have the confidence at first to give lessons. I felt that I was still a novice and didn’t have the education or experience to show someone else how to do it, but my own drum teacher encouraged me and assured me that I knew what I was doing. It quickly became a passion. I really loved having the opportunity to show others what I know, and encourage them the same way my teachers did. Right now I currently have about 40 regular students per week. Mostly in Southern California, but there are a hand full sprinkled throughout other states that I teach via Skype or FaceTime. I’m the Senior Drum Instructor and Show Director for School Of Rock in Burbank, CA. They have a fantastic program that not only provides one-on-one lessons the old school way, but also places students into a working band and provides them with real stage experience. We are able to give these students the same real world gigging musician life, without some of the “less than desirable” aspects I was exposed to in my teens. 

Name something that is a positive in the world today.  And why it should be celebrated.

ART! The arts are a positive thing. All aspects of them. Theatre, Film, TV, Music, Fine Art. It can be thought provoking; it can evoke different emotions, and provide escapism. 

With the amount of negativity in the world, especial on social media, it’s nice to just take a break and lose yourself in something created by another human. I encourage everyone to go out, see a movie, go to an art gallery, or go to the theater or see a concert. Go have some fun for a couple hours and don’t worry about politics, or what someone said or did online. 

What are your goals both personally and professionally for the rest of the year?

I definitely plan to spend more time on the road. As stated before, I’m very comfortable in that environment. I also am in the beginning stages of booking a clinic tour with a focus on the aspects of what it takes to be a working professional in the modern era of performance. These days it’s not enough to just “be a drummer.” Everyone wants us to also run backing tracks, trigger samples, etc. Half the time you need to have a lap top open next to your kit just to get through a club show. No one ever really talks about that stuff in the music education world. I don’t know any other teachers that are showing students how to set up a click and backing tracks, or going through all the extra “non-drumming related” gear they need to have on a gig. I’m going to lean heavily into that, and show audiences the behind the scenes part of the show. 

One other thing that I intend on working more with this year is Artist Relations. Due to my background working as an AR Manager, and perhaps that I’m fortunate enough to officially endorse a number of prestigious instrument brands, I get a lot of calls from up-and-coming artists looking for advice. The last two years I took part in panel discussions and seminars at the NAMM Show discussing the topic. I think my fellow panelists and I were able to touch on a lot of good points about the mystery of the artist endorsement; however you can only do so much in an hour. I’m now making myself available for more in-depth talks on a one-on-one basis. Answering any questions artists may have about how best to approach a brand they wish to endorse. Covering what typical contrasts involve, and even do press kit and EPK reviews to help put them on the right track. This service is also available to brands that want to grow their market share by bringing in artists to endorse their products. Too often new companies pop up and are just looking to make a dent in the market any way they can. It’s difficult to get in with distributors, and proper marketing can be expensive. Building a good artist roster can be helpful in establishing your brand, but mistakes are often made, direct sales under the illusion of signing an agreement with an artist have become more and more frequent. Things like that can severely compromise the integrity of your brand, and spread negativity around the industry. I’d like to help companies avoid that through proper Artist Relations Management. 

Anything else you would like to share?

I’d just like to say thank you for taking the time to let me rant! Hahaha. I’d like to invite all your readers to follow me on social media. I keep things updated daily and it’s the best place to find out when I’ll be coming to your town on a gig.

FaceBook & Instagram @livingdeaddrummer 

Twitter @livindeddrummer

YouTube.com/masonni 

and of course www.livingdeaddrummer.com 

INTERVIEW: Nick Mason “The Living Dead Drummer” was originally published on RockRevolt Mag

[olivereliott]

The Great Dirtbag Pissing Contest

A few weeks ago, someone put a sticker saying “Does this Sprinter van make my trust fund look big?” on my friend Thomas’s van when it was parked on a street in Bozeman.

When Thomas texted me a photo of the sticker, I had two immediate thoughts:

Who is so angry about someone else having a nice van that they design and print (and pay for) stickers like this?

Thomas doesn’t have a trust fund. He lives in a Sprinter van full-time, but pays for it with photography and videography work, as well as, get this, building out vans and selling them—flipping them like some people do houses.

That same week, Adventure Journal published a story about Craig Fowler, the first person to complete the Double Triple Crown—thru-hiking the PCT, AT, and Continental Divide Trail, and bikepacking the Arizona Trail, the Colorado Trail, and the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Commenters on the story wondered how Craig funded his adventures, and Craig (and Craig’s friends) responded, offering some details of frugality, couch-surfing, and prioritizing adventure over things like a mortgage or 401(k). Other commenters were still skeptical.

Let’s be clear: Craig spent about 450 total days completing all those thru-hikes and bikepacking trips, over the span of 16½ years. Which leaves him, according to my rough math, about 15 years and 3 months to work, save for, and plan those trips. And we’re not talking about a person buying a giant expensive boat and sailing it around the world while eating caviar and sipping champagne every night—we’re talking about a guy who pinched pennies so he could live out of a backpack for a few months. Which is pretty cheap, even if you’re buying the fancy ramen noodles.

There’s no Hierarchy of Dirtbags arranged by purity of intentions, with, I don’t know, Chris McCandless or Fred Beckey (or Daniel Suelo) at the top of the pyramid, and someone who just bought a brand-new van last year at the bottom. You don’t get more points if you pay for gas with seasonal work and odd jobs instead of doing sponsored Instagram posts. Spending a few months of your life thru-hiking or riding a bike is just as great if you’re a penny-pinching twenty-something or if it’s your early retirement gift to yourself after 35 years of the daily grind.

So why does anyone give a shit how someone paid for a nice van or a backpacking or climbing trip?

Maybe: If you’re unhappy about your life and you see someone you think is having more fun than you, wouldn’t it make you feel better to find out they were able to do it because someone gave them a bunch of free money? You wouldn’t have to wonder why they did it and you didn’t.

This doesn’t usually seem to be the case, though. If you spend much time in outdoor adventure circles, you rarely meet someone who is not working in some capacity. I sure haven’t met very many people cruising around in vans climbing five days a week and showering once a week because they won the Powerball, or because their grandmother died and made them sole heir to a fortune made from a hair care products company. I’m sure that happens, but I haven’t seen many instances of it. Maybe they’re just really good at keeping it a secret, but I think most folks you see out there just have a different story of life priorities—giving up security and comfort in order to be in the outdoors more. Which is a privileged position to be in. Even if you don’t have a trust fund.

I lived in a van for three years, technically “homeless,” but by choice, not by necessity. I was well aware the whole time that I was sacrificing a home in order to see sunrises and sunsets around the western United States, and it would be a far different story if I were sleeping in my car or a shelter because I’d been bankrupted by medical bills. I worked remotely the entire time as a marketing writer and a freelance outdoor writer, paying for my health insurance, but also well aware if shit really hit the fan and I ran out of money, I could stay on a friend’s couch until I got on my feet again. Or, worst-case, move back in with my parents, who are not what you’d call “rich,” but have two bedrooms at their house in the Midwest that are vacant most of the year unless my brother and I are visiting. I never had a trust fund—but having a home to go back to is a safety net that a lot of people in America don’t have.

I used to volunteer and help lead backpacking trips for urban teens with a nonprofit called Big City Mountaineers. In 2008, on my first trip, the website Stuff White People Like was popular, and one day while hiking, we started cracking jokes on the topic. The trip leaders, myself and Darin, were both white, and all the teens were African-American and Latino. One of the kids, Denzell, said, “White people like to do hella dangerous shit, like rock climbing and skydiving.” As a white person who had been both rock climbing and skydiving, I laughed. That sentence has always stuck with me, because Denzell was really saying something like this: if you don’t grow up with a certain level of comfort, you usually don’t tend to seek out discomfort as an adult. The kids I led on those trips often had unstable family situations, sometimes had to walk through gang-controlled neighborhoods on their way to school, and sleeping in a tent in the mountains for four consecutive chilly nights was a totally different experience for them than it was for me.

One afternoon a few years later, late in my van-dwelling stint, my girlfriend and I climbed a two-pitch route outside the west entrance of the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel in Zion National Park. From the top, we looked down and saw our Astrovan, which we’d parked behind someone’s Sprinter van. That Sprinter van dwarfed our little van, which I’d spent my life savings of $6,000 on a couple years earlier. The people who owned the Sprinter probably had more storage, maybe a fridge inside, a cooktop instead of a backpacking stove, and they could probably stand up inside of their van. That sounded pretty dreamy. Were the people who owned that Sprinter van rich? Who the fuck knows. I figured we were both rich, if we were able to spend a Monday afternoon climbing rocks.

A new-ish Sprinter van is expensive. So is a roof over your head. And I really hope the people living in vans are having a blast doing whatever it is that a mobile lifestyle affords them.

As long as people are having fun, I don’t care how they achieved the means to do what they do. If you can spend any time outdoors, you’re lucky, whether you’re driving an $80,000 van or a beat-up old Honda Civic.

If you can get it, go get it.

—Brendan

The post The Great Dirtbag Pissing Contest appeared first on semi-rad.com.

[onewheelneil]

Israel day 6

This morning I woke up in Jerusalem with two new roommates. One was an Israeli soldier named Gefen who had been in the army for 3 years about to be discharged in a month. He was really cool and always wanting us to ask questions about isarael. I was the first to wake so I did my morning routine and attempted to wake my roomies so they wouldn’t miss breakfast but they wanted to sleep in. I got my breakfast and everything was the same but this hotel had cream of wheat which was really good. Also a run cake with type of syrup on top that was perfect consistency not too moist. Afterwards I got my unicycle and made my way to the bus. Our tour guide was a little late this morning saying the food from yesterday wasn’t agreeing with him. We got into Jerusalem into the old city and made our way to the big historical spots including the west wall and the big temples. We got off the bus and I was just in awe of the huge sprawling city in front of me. The place was massive with buildings all the way into the horizon that are part of Jerusalem. For a city that is over 4000 years old it really does show it from the expanse of it. We entered the old city with the old sandstone buildings and cobblestone walkways and walked up to the top of a building that housed the room of the last supper and next to the tomb of king David to get a better view of the old city. Our guide showed us all the important buildings including the done on the rock and a synagogue and a mosque of all the religions that call this place their holy land. It was really cool to see the history of this place and pass all these historical places of big events. We stopped at an ancient market road still in tact with pillars and we talked about a bunch of history that kinda passed through one ear and out the other. One thing that was interesting was king Solomon buried his wife in a vat of honey because he loved her and wanted her to be sweet in the after life. We made our way through a tunnel into a place with a lot of beautiful murals and a photo art gallery going on. Then we saw a bit of ancient wall that was basically rubble from the year 722 BC that was actually going through a house back then. It was really cool to see something so old and had been through so much in its time. One thing that was really annoying was these narrow streets were actually still being driven on. It looked really out of place cause it was so old looking. I did notice that all the cars had scrapes on the corners of their bumpers so that was funny. There was also a lot of trash and not a lot of trash cans so that kinda sucked. We got to another roof top and another perfect lookout view closer to the middle. He talked a bit about how this is the center of the Middle East (the middle of the middle of the middle). We rested and took pictures and then headed to the main location, the western wall. We walked to a balcony that overlooked the entire wall and it was breathtaking at how big the area was. We walked down a bunch of steps to get to the entrance to the wall. There was a metal detector and an X-ray machine for bags to get to the wall. They did not let me bring in my unicycle so I left it with them. I walked in and the group met up to have a little talk about the significance of this wall. It was huge when you stood next to it towering over everyone praying on it. It was really quiet only children and prayers being heard. The adults were leaning on the wall praying some with the traditional tefellin and talit and some without. I left a paper wishing my recently passed aunt a safe journey to the afterlife and left it on the wall. It was very emotional moment for me. There was a group of 4 people blowing the shofar and praying for people around them. It was really beautiful to see everyone respecting each other. There was a fence separating the men from the women which is under Jewish tradition. After we took our time to enjoy the wall we all met up back where we entered. Everyone looked affected by the wall in some way or another. As we all arrived at the meeting spot we headed out to get to the market to get lunch and roam around for souvenirs. I unicycled everywhere I could even on the cobblestone going up and down ramps some steep some not. The residents of the area enjoyed it staring and commenting to the people they were with. We got to the bus loaded on counted off to make sure everyone was here and drove off to the market. We made it to the market and they gave us time to find lunch and a souvenir for a white elephant activity after Shabbat. The market was extremely crowded with little aisles lined with stalls. People shouldering their way through. I had to wheel my unicycle through everybody because the bus wasn’t taking us back to the hotel. Our first stop was a chic hike in the wall bar that served authentic empanadas with an Israeli twist. One of the waiters knew English and was talking with us the whole time he showed us some cool places to visit in the market and also talk to us about his time in Jerusalem. We started wandering again after lunch to find presents for the white elephant. I found women’s underwear just as a joke and my friend found a phone powered fan. Since he paid for my lunch I paid for his present. The market was really interesting to just walk around and see all the different stalls. They had clothing stalls, nuts and dried fruit stalls, hummus stalls, bars, and fish/meat markets stalls. The people were bustling or strolling and it was all organized chaos and really fun to watch. I met up with the rest of the group and we counted off and walked (I unicycled) back to the hotel. The bus driver went to his parents place for Shabbat we won’t see him till Sunday. We rested and I took a shower while people were up in the pool upstairs. I got to talk to my girlfriend over wifi while I had the time (love you) and empty my bladder before Shabbat started. We all huddled around the Shabbat candles lit a candle and said the Shabbat prayer. It sounds a lot like the Chanukah prayer but with shabbat at the end. Then we waited for our room to free up because another group was doing a ceremony at the moment. Once it opened we sat down in a circle of chairs and talked about Shabbat. Our guide wanted to know how we celebrated Shabbat back at home. People shared their experiences at home. Almost nobody in our group celebrated it regularly. Then we sang some traditional Shabbat songs some I hadn’t heard before. Then we headed down to our dining room to wash our hands and pray over the bread and wine. The food we got was not what we were expecting. We were promised a special more fancy meal for Shabbat but we only got decent buffet food. They had brisket and couscous and lots of other side dishes but nothing too substantial. Our guide was actually really mad and ate out the ears of the owners of the hotel. Afterwards we were free to go wrap our presents for the white elephant party. I found a newspaper and gave out sheets of wrapping paper to everyone so they could hide their gift. We went in order of alphabetical last names. Each person either chooses and unknown gift from the table or steals an already known gift that somebody else has already picked. With 50 people in the group it took a while especially when a string of people would steal each others presents. When I got up I opened up a new present and picked up a bottle opener with a Jewish rabbi handle. It was pretty cute and unique. The most types of prizes was underwear and shot glasses. One guy got a fish head which was later found to be bought by the tour guide. Eventually I got my bottle opener stolen from me so I stole a nice shirt that said a funny Jewish phrase. I liked it until it got stolen again a I ended up with a magnet that was pretty stupid. I ended up sticking it to the hotels mailbox to give it some excitement. The whole day was really fun seeing Jerusalem for the first time. And of course at the end I am exhausted so with that I laid on my bed and conked out for the night. Thanks for reading!

[eigransecreto-blog]

The Importance of Australia Travel Guides

One of the greatest experiences proper now is Australia. Travels to this wonderful nation is rapidly increasing as an increasing number of individuals world wide turn into conscious of all it has to offer. For seasoned international vacationers who have experienced the history and tradition of Europe there is no such thing as a doubt that Australia is the proper vacation spot for his or her subsequent journey. Australia is a rustic that presents a pure beauty that is hard to imagine.

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The Barossa is regarded by man as the premier wine growing area of Australia with a sophisticated wine culture that is equal to any outdated world wine area of Europe. In order for you contrast then a travel advisor can recommendation you on the best way to enjoy an itinerary that is sensibly organized with a purpose to give you a snug expertise whether you're within the outback or lush Wine lands of Australia.

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The Nice Barrier Reef is a gaggle of beautiful coral reefs that are very picturesque. The nature loving folks admire it probably the most and get their snaps clicked at this lovely reef. It is a very lengthy reef stretching as much as thousand miles. The principle cities of attraction are Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane and many others. All these cities are stuffed with attractions that beautify Australia. When planning your trip to this fabulous continent, be sure you take a look at this Australia Journey Information.

Ranging from Sydney we will get by all of the necessary cities. Sydney is situated in South Wales and has many attractions to see just like the well-known art galleries and museums which keep Australia's finest collections of paintings and sculptures.

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The main locations of visit are Melbourne museum, Luna Park, dance and music show theatres, gardens and seashores. Brisbane in Queensland also has some attractive options like the cool Morton Island, Metropolis Botanical Gardens, Lamington National Park and the famous Verve Caf?. All these points of interest are price watching. Hope reading this Australia Journey information, you bought to learn about Australia, and so it's best to plan up your subsequent visit to Australia of course.

There isn't a reason for you to not go to Australia. Touring to this nation is extremely straightforward. This is proved by the many guests who enter Australia daily to experience what this nation has to offer. In case you have ever met an Australian you should have observed how much she or he loves Australia. It is a nation that provides you outstanding experiences resulting from its splendid pure environment. It is a nation that additionally affords an especially high standard of living. There could be little question that guests flock to Australia because they are going to see incredible natural magnificence but also take pleasure in the perfect worldwide customary facilities.

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Luxurious Australia journey has obtained to be probably the greatest methods to see one of the crucial fascinating travel destinations on the earth. This huge continent which is split into 6 states and a couple of territories covers an space of some 7,617,930 square kilometres or 2,941,299 sq. miles. The most important state alone, Western Australia, is roughly 5 instances the size of Texas, USA!

Melbourne is the second largest metropolis in Australia and some of the widespread destinations for travellers to the continent. So what are one of the best things to see and do?

Luxury Australia journey does not must be expensive - life-style in Australia comes as a given - it's the way of life on this part of the world, so add a bit luxury into your Australia journey with some of our ideas.

Take a tour to Phillip Island, home to the Australian Bike Grand Prix, a simple ninety minute drive from Melbourne itself and you'll discover a world of contrasts.

Billed as Victoria's wildlife island, you'll be shocked to find the Grand Prix circuit nestles near the world famous Penguin parade, the Koala Conservation Centre, Churchill Island Heritage Farm and the Nobbies Centre, a marine attraction the place you'll be able to uncover the secrets of the Southern Seas with interactive displays permitting you to intermingle with seals, sharks and dolphins that abound in these waters.

I did say that it was a world of contrasts, so do not forget the Phillip Island Chocolate Manufacturing facility in your itinerary, the place you should buy the delectable hand-made candies made on the Island.

Take a spectacular dawn balloon journey over the Yarra Valley, one in all Victoria's lovely winery regions. Residence to 90 vineyards, surrounded by mountains you fly for approximately an hour over the early morning vineyards before ending your expertise with a sumptuous champagne breakfast.

Caf? tradition abounds in St Kilda and it would be best to browse this trendy bayside suburb of Melbourne with its various range of shops and consuming venues. Remember the Luna Park amusement park in-built 1912, complete with its picket curler coaster and different historic rides.

For the sports activities fans amongst you there may be the very talked-about Sports Lovers Tour. Billed as city sightseeing with a distinction you will explore the historical past and pleasure of sporting Melbourne. Whichever sport is your particular favorite, be it tennis, cricket, rugby or soccer, find yourself sitting within the coaches' box, imagining filing that essential media story within the media facilities or smelling the liniment within the changing rooms!

For dinner with a difference, the Colonial tram automotive dinner is ideal! 1920's splendour, but with modern-day services so that not even a crystal glass quivers in your cosy, colonial interval dining automobile. A technique glass ensures privacy while conventional silver and white linen don the tables. That is one practice journey you will not forget in a rush and booking is a should with the restaurant promoting out weeks in advance.

Hop on the Metropolis Circle Tram experience for a free central Melbourne tour. Steeped in outdated world appeal, these 1920's brown and gold liveried tram cars are an appealing strategy to uncover the city centre sights. The conductor on board supplies beneficial data concerning the tourist attractions you would possibly want to see.

Spectacular Rhododendrons greet you as you head to The Dandenongs for the Spring flowering. Lower than an hours drive from Melbourne, lies this rich hillside area which grows all method of good issues to eat, drink and appreciate, such as the display of Spring bulbs, Devonshire Cream teas and the Puffing Billy Steam Train that gently meanders its way by the beautiful landscape.

If you wish to get the perfect out of a trip then it's essential to make use of Australia travel guides. Guides are the best technique of getting to know in regards to the nation and what its many regions have to offer. Australia is so massive it's divided into 5 regions. They're Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. There may be so much for a customer to see and expertise in these huge regions that it is sensible to make use of guides with the intention to have an itinerary that is put collectively logically.

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Australia journey guides may be easily found online. There are specialty websites that can provide you with all of the information you want. Such a site only affords information that is accurate and useful and can information you through all concerns and details crucial for a visit that's expertly and properly deliberate.

If you're traveling to Australia then you will need to take the time to go to Gold Coast. Australia travel can be incomplete with out it. Gold Coast is situated in Queensland. It's the second most populated city in Australia. The title of this metropolis is self explanatory viajes a Australia and harks back to the days of the Australian gold rush period. Good causes to visit this exciting city is the stunningly stunning seashores, world class browsing and nice climate that is sub tropical. The Albert River lies the coast and the capital of Queensland, Brisbane.

Australians additionally love visiting this energetic city as a result of many attractions it gives. If you want to have an thrilling and vibrant nightlife to get pleasure from this is the place for you. If you wish to get details about the subtle nightspots consisting of bars, clubs and eating places then visit an internet site specializing in Australia as a journey vacation spot. You will also learn concerning the Lamington Nationwide Park that is on the World Heritage Listing.

If you are a eager surfer then you have to take the time to expertise among the greatest browsing the world has to offer. The Gold Coast Australia travel expertise will take you to Main Seaside, Broadbeach, South Stradbroke Island, The Spit, Mermaid Beach, Rainbow Bay, Froggies Beach and Surfers Paradise where you will surf facet by facet with Australians and surfers from around the globe. If you want to say you surfed at one of the vital talked about browsing spots on the planet then go to Duranbah Beach. To get the complete native seaside expertise it's essential to stay on the small city of Duranbah for an evening.

Gold Coast Australia travel is equipped for the international customer who has high expectations. You will see the facilities are of a excessive normal however that the placement retains a charm and heat that is all its own. Many pictures of this stunning location might be found on respected journey web sites.

[anavoliselenu]

Monday Chapter 1

Getting married every single year was becoming a pain in the ass. Especially for the maid of honor.

“I really didn’t think he was serious about a yearly wedding.” Selena Havens fiddled with the edges of the yellow chiffon bridesmaid dress, which had entirely too many yards of material. The damn thing belonged on a slow talking southern belle, complete with parasol and white ribbons, not on her as she stood up for her best friend…again.

“It’s romantic,” Gwen offered.

“It’s stupid.”

Samantha and Blake were going on two years of marriage and already had little Eddie. At first when Blake announced he was going to marry Sam every year on their anniversary in a different state, Selena had thought it was sweet. Now after a full week of non-stop wedding planning, she and Gwen, Blake’s sister, were sweating it out in San Antonio planning their big Texas-themed wedding. Except Gwen was English and entirely misguided about Texas. Where there should be cowboy hats and western flavor attire, everything had turned south. Deep south. More like a scene from Gone With the Wind than Dallas.

“Don’t fret, Selena. They won’t all be this grand.” It took some time to get used to Gwen’s British accent, but Selena was used to it now.

“I’m not fretting. I’m pissing and moaning. Get it right! Do you have any idea how hot these dresses are going to be outside in the smoldering heat?”

Gwen displayed perfect teeth as she smiled. She pivoted in a circle, reached into a large bag from the bridal knick-knack store they’d found the day before, and removed two white and gold folding lace fans. “I thought of that.”

Well, at least it isn’t a parasol.

Gwen handed her the fan and turned to the bag again. Out came two perfectly matched frilly umbrellas.

“Ugh! I spoke to soon.”

“Excuse me?”

Selena refrained from rolling her eyes as she reached for the parasol.

Why did it have to be yellow? Nobody wore yellow!

“You don’t like them.” Gwen’s arms dropped and her excited expression fell.

I hate ’em. “They’re very���country.” In a southern plantation kind of way. But Selena couldn’t say that to Gwen. Pampered, rich, and completely naive, Gwen meant well. She executed poorly, but did it with a golden heart.

“Isn’t that what we’re going for, country?”

Selena opened the sunny umbrella and forced a smile to her lips. “This does say country.”

“Splendid. I think we have all we need then.” Oblivious to Selena’s unease, Gwen continued removing small trinkets from her bag, perfectly matching earrings, necklaces, and yes, even ribbons for their hair. Selena started to think she’d look like a buttercup on top of the cake by the time Gwen finished. “Oh, look at the time. We need to run,” Gwen said.

“I thought we were done.”

“We need to make another pass at the ranch and assure Neil that security won’t be a problem.” Neil, Sam and Blake’s personal bodyguard, was built like a brick house, completely immovable if he wanted to stay in place. He smiled so seldom Selena hadn’t known he had teeth until after she’d known him for six months.

“Can’t Neil check it out himself?” She was hoping for a cocktail in the hotel bar, followed by a hot bath in the penthouse suite. While in Texas, she was working on finding new clients for Alliance. Men and women. Samantha founded the elite matchmaking firm and brought Selena on as full partner after she married Blake. In the past two years, Selena had recruited over a dozen women and matched three couples. Unlike other matchmaking companies, Alliance matched couples based on their life goals, not for love or a happily ever after. There were men out there who wanted a wife as a status symbol, or needed a temporary partner to obtain a job or promotion. In Samantha’s case, she and Blake married because of a mandate in Blake’s father’s will. As it turned out, the two fell recklessly in love with each other and had Eddie before their first anniversary.

Selena was always on the lookout for new clients. What better place than Texas, where the men were often rich, and the women were perfectly polished and sometimes available.

“You know how difficult Neil can be. I’ll need to convince him the paparazzi won’t make it past the gates.”

The taste of that cocktail was drifting farther away. Selena reached into her purse and grasped a clip before piling her shoulder-length, hair high on her head. The humidity had flattened it to nothing on their earlier excursion. No use pretending her hair would cooperate after more assaulting heat.

“Okay, let’s go. But I’m driving.”

Gwen was used to having a hotel driver taking her wherever she wanted to go. She said she didn’t like to drive in the States because of the cars being on the opposite side of the road. Selena didn’t care for the dependence on another driver to get her around so she’d opted to rent a car.

Thirty minutes later, they were driving down a Texas highway in a compact rental car. The air conditioner running at full speed hardly made a dent in the oppressive heat. Selena clutched her fist and hit the top of the dashboard. “I don’t think the air is working right.”

Gwen sat quietly in her seat, using the folding fan she’d bought for the wedding. “It’s not far. We’ll survive.”

Yeah, but the heat was weighing on Selena’s nerves, not to mention her shirt was sticking to the back of the seat. Considering Gwen was from Europe, Selena was surprised she wasn’t full of complaints.

In fact, Gwen hadn’t stopped smiling since they’d left the hotel.

Hmmm, she’d have to analyze that.

There was a guard gate on the property. When they approached, and Selena gave them their names, the attendant waved them through. “Mrs. Hawthorn is waiting for y’all,” the cowboy said while tipping his hat.

“I love the Texan accent, don’t you?” Gwen asked.

“It grows on you after a while.”

“I think it’s charming. Everyone seems so polite.”

Selena drove the car down the long tree-lined drive to the front of the sprawling ranch house. “Americans think everyone with a British accent is intelligent. We both know that isn’t true. One night in a honky-tonk and you’d learn that not all cowboys are polite.” For some reason Selena felt it was her duty to keep an eye on Gwen, much like an older, more experienced sister would.

“I’m not as naive as you think I am,” Gwen chided.

“Hmmm.” Ya, right.

“I’m not.”

Selena glanced over and met Gwen’s scowl. Her porcelain features and perfect makeup, along with the accent, added to the innocent poster child image.

“I may have gone to boarding school, and lived most my life at Albany behind locked gates, but I’ve done some traveling on my own.”

“Let me guess, with a bodyguard the size of Neil hanging around?”

“Hans isn’t nearly as big as Neil.”

Selena rolled her eyes. “Hans? His name is Hans?”

“He’s from Sweden. His specialty is in martial arts.”

Selena would have laughed if Gwen wasn’t so serious. “So where is Hans now?”

“At home. I didn’t think he needed to accompany me here. I knew I’d be with you and could call on Samantha or Blake anytime. Besides, you don’t seem to need anyone holding your hand to keep you safe.”

That’s because I know how to take care of myself. “You’re not me.”

“No, but I’m capable of staying out of trouble without a bodyguard.”

Unaccredited confidence could lead to trouble. “You know I’m leaving the day after the wedding.”

“I know.”

Selena put the car in park and kept it running to keep what cool air they could blowing on them as they talked. “When are you flying home?”

“I haven’t decided. Mother wants me to fly home with her, but I think I might stay here for a while longer.”

“I think you’d be better off going home with your mom.”

“I’m not a child.”

“Didn’t say you were.”

“I think you did.”

Gwen’s defenses were up. Selena placed a hand over the other woman’s. “How old are you, twenty-five?”

Gwen’s jaw dropped. “I’m thirty-one.”

Too old to be walking around with a babysitter. “I tell you what. Tonight we’ll put on a pair of jeans, find a couple of hats, and look for that honky-tonk. Maybe I can give you a few tips so you can stay out of trouble.” Not exactly the environment to recruit new customers, but leaving Gwen to her own defenses was kinda like leaving a kitten with a dozen pit bulls.

“What if I want to find some trouble?”

“Then it’s best you have someone to keep you from getting hurt. Hence, you’ll need someone like Hans.”

“Fine, no trouble. I’d like to keep myself safe, have some fun, and leave un-accosted.”

“Fine.”

Gwen smiled and pushed the door open.

The sweltering heat sucked the energy from every pore of Selena’s body. Maybe a cool bar and a beer would help knock her out of her current funk.

Selena hiked her purse over her shoulder and rounded the front of the car.

“Oh, Justin, how nice of you to come.” Gwen’s voice pierced the air with her greeting.

Selena skidded to a stop. Justin?

Gwen reached the steps to the ranch house and greeted Justin in the classic European style, kissing both of his cheeks. Dressed in casual slacks and a cotton button up shirt, Justin Billings tossed on his easy smile. As usual he said exactly the right things, at exactly the right times. “Don’t you look lovely. You’d never know it’s a thousand degrees out here.”

Selena’s heart pounded in her chest. Here stood the real reason for her unease. Justin Billings was everything she’d ever wanted in a man, but completely out of her reach. Something inside her ignited every time she saw him. Sadly, that response usually ended up in a snarky remark or defensive battle. He walked with more confidence than a tomcat in a dark ally in Brooklyn, charmed everyone he met with only a smile, and oozed sex appeal like syrup dripping off a double stack of pancakes.

Justin ran his hand through his sandy blond hair and caught her gaze when Gwen walked past him and into the house. Selena watched his chest rise and fall with one deep breath before he started down the stairs to greet her.

“Hello, Selena.”

“Hey, Justin. What are you doing here?” Damn, that sounded snotty. The heat was frying her brain.

“I take it you’re not happy to see me.”

“Didn’t say that. Wasn’t expecting you is all.” Is all? The locals were sliding into her speech.

He crossed his arms over his chest, tucking his fingers under his arms. “Gwen asked Neil to come, Blake asked me to give a report on Gwen.”

Selena glanced over Justin’s shoulder to the empty doorway. “Why doesn’t Blake ask Neil about her?”

“Neil doesn’t offer gossip, only facts. Blake would be more frustrated with a, ‘she’s fine’ response.” Justin dipped his voice to mimic Neil’s. Selena couldn’t help but smile.

“She is fine.” How did one woman instill such a need for these men to coddle her?

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Selena shoved a lock of hair that managed to fall out of her loose bun from her eyes. Justin watched the movement, his eyes wandering to the tip of her head. “Let the judge, judge then.”

“I’m not a judge any longer.”

“No, you’re a politician.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Politicians are hated almost as much as lawyers.” Which Justin was. Or had been anyway. At thirty-seven he’d climbed more ladders and overturned more goals than a man twice his age. His sights were now on Sacramento and, according to the polls, his chances were good.

“Ouch.”

“I call ’em as I see ’em.”

He stood aside, his smile never falling from his full lips. “Well why don’t you call ’em inside. It’s hard to judge my ward out here in the heat.”

“She’s not your ward,” Selena informed him as she walked by. Even in the heat, she managed to catch of scent of the musk rolling off his frame. She shivered, ignoring the pleasure his scent brought over her.

“She’s not yours either, but I didn’t see her driving up here alone.”

“Don’t you have laws to pass or something?”

He chuckled as she passed him on the stairs. “I’m not the governor, yet.”

“I’d think babysitting a grown woman was off your list of judicial duties.” The cool interior of the house was welcome relief from the heat.

“Maybe my political ones, but not my friendship ones. You’d do the same for Sam and don’t even try and deny it.”

He had her there. Not that she’d let him know her thoughts. “Whatever.”

****

Justin followed the lucky bead of perspiration that travel down Selena’s neck and disappeared down the ‘v’ of her shirt. He shifted on his feet as he thought of where that tiny bit of moisture might have traveled. At five seven, Selena’s sun kissed skin and sultry, brown eyes had a way of drawing him in.

As if sensing his attention, Selena tilted her head to the side. Her movement forced his eyes from her br**sts to her face. He didn’t even have the decency to be embarrassed about being caught checking her out. He should be, he knew. But he wasn’t. Justin lowered his eyes to their hostess who stood beside Gwen and Neil and pretended to listen.

Thirty minutes later, they stood on a vast lawn surrounded by split rail fences a few hundred yards away. The smell of horses and heat filled the air.

“We own over five-hundred acres,” Mrs. Hawthorn was explaining.

“How do you keep out unwanted guests?” Neil asked.

“I’ll have extra ranch hands available to head off any wandering spectators. They’ll have to walk a long way to reach us here. And if they drive a car, we’ll see them long before they have a chance to sneak in.”

Mrs. Hawthorn strolled over to the large outdoor entertainment area, complete with fire pits and permanent tables. Bales of straw outlined the area adding to the charming Texas setting.

Selena walked away from Mrs. Hawthorn toward one of the ranch’s employees. The cowboy wore tight blue jeans, boots, and a Stetson. The man smiled and tipped his hat when she strolled up. Justin walked a couple of steps her way but couldn’t hear what she was saying. The young cowboy glanced over to Gwen and made a couple of hand gestures. Selena seemed to thank the man and turned back to their tour.

Gwen directed her attention to Selena. “Why don’t you go on and show Justin the inside layout while I speak with the man in charge of security.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice. It’s hotter than sin out here.” Selena pivoted on her heel and bee-lined for the house. “Coming?”

Justin picked up his pace to meet her at the door, holding it open while she walked inside.

“Mrs. Hawthorn has offered half a dozen rooms for our use the night of the wedding. For guests who might have too much to drink, or for those who come at the last minute without accommodations.” Selena walked past a back staircase and pointed. “There’s a balcony overlooking the venue—one where Blake can post extra security who might be able to spot something in the distance, or an uninvited guest.”

Justin followed behind, watching the sway of her butt as she rounded the corner and walked down the long hall.

“You guys can stage in here while you’re waiting on Sam.”

She kept walking and talking. Justin barely heard a word. Much like most of the times he’d been in Selena’s presence, she numbed his brain to nothing, making it difficult to think. He’d always felt a sizzle when she walked in the room. If he had to guess, he’d say she was as attracted to him as he was to her. Yet neither of them ever acted on it.

Well…almost never.

Christmas the year before while celebrating with Blake and Samantha and about fifty friends, there was their almost kiss under the mistletoe. They’d both been drinking, barely skimming the surface of sarcasm with each other the whole night. Selena had worn a skintight red dress that was slit half way up her thigh. She’d pulled back her dark hair allowing only small bits of it to swing along her slender neck. Every time she’d passed him that night, her perfume caught hold of him. It was like she’d gripped his neck and squeezed. Sucked in by her light, he’d noticed when she peeled away from the crowd and followed her.

She’d turned unexpectedly, colliding into him. They stood there for a moment, appraising each other. Selena broke eye contact and glanced at the ceiling. She’d mumbled something under her breath and he’d looked up. God bless mistletoe. He placed a hand on the side of her face and fanned his fingers to the back of her neck. He remembered the need to kiss her slowly.

So much for that plan.

Just as he leaned in to taste, one of the party guests called his name from across the room. Selena jumped back and out of his arms.

Neither of them ever spoke of it. In fact, they went on as if it had never happened.

He supposed it was because both of them were such good friends with Sam and Blake that neither of them wanted to screw that up.

Justin went on to date, or at least be seen with other women, and Selena did whatever she did for the company she and Samantha ran.

“So what do you think?” Selena was talking to him, but he didn’t have a clue about what.

“Excuse me?”

“The house?”

“What?”

You’ve not heard a word I’ve said.”

“No, no you told me about the room we’ll be in, about the balcony.”

She perched her hands on her hips and offered a haughty look. “I went over that fifteen minutes ago. I don’t know why I bother,” she said turning away.

“I’m distracted,” he admitted. “Lot of things on my mind.”

“I have better things to do with my day, too. Tell you what, why don’t you just tell Neil you approve, and we’ll be on our way.”

Justin smirked. “Trying to get rid of me?”

Her eyes shot to his faster than lightning strikes a stormy sky. “Wanting you gone would imply I care that you’re here.”

She was trying hard to keep a disinterested look on her face, but she started to nibble on her fingernail and broke eye contact. You care. You might not want to, but you do.

“Ouch.”

She glanced at her fingernails and fisted her palms. “Oh, forget it. Let’s get out of here before I melt.”

“Sounds good.” Because standing here fantasizing about her wasn’t doing anyone any good. Besides, last time Justin checked, he had a date for this wedding and it wasn’t with the woman in front of him.

Selena strolled off and followed way behind. He really should be thinking about the Texas millionaires attending this “renewal of vows” ceremony and not about the maid of honor.

“I’ve thought of everything, Neil. You can tell my brother he’s perfectly safe and the only media pictures being taken will be from the one reporter he’s invited to attend.” Gwen waved Justin’s way. “Be a love and appease him, will you?”

Justin eyed Neil and shrugged.

“Thank you again for your time, Mrs. Hawthorn. We’ll see you in a few days.”

Mrs. Hawthorn allowed Gwen to kiss both her cheeks and waved as the two other women climbed into the car. “Have fun, girls.”

Justin stood beside Neil and Mrs. Hawthorn while Selena and Gwen drove away.

Selena didn’t even glance in her rearview mirror as she drove away.

“They were in a hurry to leave,” Neil announced.

“I noticed that, too.”

Mrs. Hawthorn placed a hand on one hip. “Wedding planning isn’t easy. They’ve been working hard. It’s a good thing they can get away for a night of fun before the festivities.”

“Night of fun?” Neil asked.

Justin followed the dust down the road.

“According to Billy, Selena asked about a local watering hole where the two of them could kick back and relax for a few hours. Dance a little and blow off some steam.”

Justin rolled his eyes. “Watering hole?”

“I can’t see Miss Gwen in a Texas bar,” Neil exclaimed.

Selena maybe, but Gwen? “Looks like you’re not flying home tonight,” Justin told Neil. Passing up the opportunity of spying on Selena and Gwen was out of the question.

Chapter Two

The hotel gift shop provided the perfect pair of skin-tight jeans, cowboy boots, and cowgirl hats. Gwen wasn’t about to go into a Texas bar dressed as the daughter of a duke. Unlike shopping for the yellow bridesmaid dresses, Selena actually enjoyed their brief walk on the country side of the store.

Loud music with just the right amount of twang, and lyrics about lost love filled the bar. Several couples crowded the dance floor. Their bodies were glued together and moved as if they were one unit.

Selena took the lead and walked through the crowd to a couple of empty seats at the bar. The two of them turned a few heads and received a couple of smiles before they sat down.

“I can’t believe how crowded it is,” Gwen said over the noise.

“Makes it more interesting,” Selena told her.

The bartender placed a couple of napkins in front of them. “Ladies,” he said, tipping his hat.

She lifted up two fingers. “Two beers.”

Gwen scoffed. “But—”

“You can’t drink wine in a beer bar, Gwen.” Selena knew where her friend was going with her haughty but. Surprisingly Gwen didn’t argue.

Gwen folded her hands in her lap on top of her purse. She sat rod straight with her big doe eyes wide open. Her fingers tapped to the music and a smile played on her lips. What did Gwen see? For her, this night was about adventure and overcoming some of her social fears. Sure, there were people dancing and having a good time. From the looks of the crowd, there wasn’t anyone completely wasted, yet. Beer drinkers tended to get rowdy later in the evening.

“Here ya are, ma’am.” The bartender sat the bottles down. Selena reached into her purse to pay. “Already taken care of,” he said nodding to the end of the bar. There sat two single men with button up western shirts and Stetsons. Selena made eye contact with the one sitting closest to her. His dark hair and finely manicured mustache outlined a ruggedly attractive face. She lifted her bottle with a tiny nod.

“Did they buy the drinks?” Gwen asked.

“Seems so.”

“Should we go over and thank them?”

Selena turned away from the men and brought the bottle to her lips. After a sip she said, “No need. They’ll be here in less than five minutes.”

Gwen held her bottle and smiled over the bar to the cowboys. “How do you know that?”

“Because you’re still staring at them which they’ll take as an invitation.”

Gwen dropped her glance to the floor and swiveled in her seat.

“My God, you really don’t get out much.”

Gwen’s cheeks turned red. “I’m pathetic.”

“You’ve been sheltered. Not completely your fault.”

Gwen sipped her beer. To her credit, she didn’t frown at the taste. “Sheltered and pathetic.”

Just how innocent are you? “Please tell me you’ve had boyfriends.”

Gwen’s jaw dropped. “I’ve had lovers. I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Why that’s a mighty fine piece of information, darlin’. I could swear you’re as innocent as a new born calf.”

Selena and Gwen both shot their eyes to the rugged cowboy who had made it to their side in less than two minutes.

Gwen’s cheeks grew instantly red, and her eyes opened wide.

“Thanks for the drinks,” Selena said, trying to remove the attention from Gwen’s outburst.

“My name is Rick. This here is Jimmy.” Jimmy was an inch or so shorter than Rick and a good twenty pounds thinner. Both were easy on the eyes.

“Selena,” she said, “And my non-virginal friend Gwen.”

Gwen elbowed her in the side and Selena laughed.

Rick and Jimmy were kind enough not to keep the joke going. “Mind if we join you?”

Selena nodded to the empty seat on her right. Rick sat and Jimmy said, “I’ll keep an eye out for an open table.”

Gwen moved a little closer to Selena when Jimmy stepped closer to her. This was going to get awkward in a heartbeat. “Why don’t I hold this,” Selena reached for Gwen’s beer, removed it from her fingers. “And you two dance.”

Gwen leaned over and tried to whisper. “I don’t even know him.”

Selena smiled and nudged her out of her chair. “Go. We’re here to have fun.”

Jimmy was already reaching for Gwen’s elbow.

“But I don’t know how to dance like that.”

Jimmy helped her to her feet. “Where are you from?”

“Outside of London.” Gwen sat her purse on the barstool.

Jimmy winked. “Well, English, I learned the two-step when I was five. I’m sure I can show you.”

“You sure?”

“C’mon.”

Selena followed Gwen as she stepped on the dance floor. She stiffened when Jimmy wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to his frame. After only a couple of missteps, Jimmy successfully had Gwen swinging to the music in what appeared to be complicated dance moves.

“Do you always watch your friend so closely?” Rick asked.

“It’s in the handbook of girls. We go to the bathroom in pairs, tuck each other’s tags in, and we watch out for each other.”

“She doesn’t seem to be watching you.”

Selena let her gaze drift to the cowboy on her right and smiled. “She’s just trying to keep from breaking your friend’s feet. Hard to do that and watch me at the same time.” Rick was cute. His accent adding to his smooth demeanor, but he wasn’t doing a thing for her libido. Chemistry was a bitch that way. On the outside, two people might seem to be right for one another, but on the inside, they simply didn’t fit. Or they exploded much like her and Justin.

Rick must not have felt the same. He settled into his chair and kept the conversation going.

****

Justin elbowed Neil into the back of the bar far away from Selena and Gwen and did his level best to slip into the shadows.

From the look of Gwen’s faltering steps, the women had been in the bar for at least an hour, maybe two. Gwen’s hair was falling out of place and on occasion her voice rose above the others. She’d danced with at least three different men in the short span of time he and Neil had been there. If it was any consolation, Selena dumped some of Gwen’s drinks into forgotten glasses on the table.

Neil’s white knuckles clutched the beer in his hands as he watched Gwen spin around the dance floor. “She’s drunk,” he muttered through clenched teeth.

“I’d say you’re right.” Justin took a pull on his beer, eyes glancing over to Selena. She was talking with two men sitting at her table where she’d spent most the night. One of them stood and offered her his hand. She hesitated, but then stood and let him lead her to the dance floor.

Her tight little ass wiggled in step with the music as if she were born to country western dancing. Her partner kept his hands on her hip for about thirty seconds, and then they started to slip.

It’s hard to hold the glass when my fingers want to crush it. Another couple blocked Justin’s view. He shifted in his seat but still couldn’t find Selena in the crowd. When he caught up with her, she’d called the dance short and was sitting at her table again, this time talking with another guy. When cow-dick number two reached over to touch Selena’s shoulder, Justin couldn’t take any more. “You watch Gwen.”

“Don’t worry, I am,” Neil said.

The music shifted into something slower by the time he reached Selena’s table. Not too gently, he removed cow-dick’s fingers from Selena’s back and grasped her elbow.

Her shocked expression met his and the cowboy took to his feet. “Can I help you?”

A tattoo of a cross sat on the man’s hand who was making time with Selena. It was almost unnoticeable, but Justin knew its meaning. “You owe me a dance,” Justin told her while ignoring the man

Maybe she was too shocked to deny him, but she stumbled to her feet and let him pull her in his arms. Her heat socked him in the gut as his body grazed hers.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Justin darted a glare at the men watching them from across the room. “Saving a woman from a bunch of yahoos planning on a night of fun.”

He spun her around, she spun him back and glanced at the men. “They’re harmless.”

“Really?”

“They only look rowdy.”

“So they’ve been buying you ladies drinks all night to test your limit for nothing?”

She stepped on his foot. He quickly recovered and kept them dancing. “How long have you been here…watching?”

Oh boy, he shoved his foot in far this time. “Long enough.”

“How long, Justin?”

“Neil was worried about Gwen.” Thinking of his best friend’s sister, he lifted his gaze around the room to try to find her. He caught a glimpse of her blonde hair and petite frame as someone led her out the door. “Oh, damn.”

Justin abruptly ended the dance and tugged Selena alongside him.

Neil was already ahead of him.

The crush of sweaty bodies made it hard to cut across the bar. Justin knew at least one of the men at Selena’s table followed.

“What are we doing?”

“C’mon,” he told her. They finally reached the front door and emptied onto the parking lot just in time to see Neil grab the guy Gwen had been dancing with. Neil pinned him to the hood of a truck and pulled his fist back.

“Stop!” Gwen shrieked

Neil hesitated, but only for a second before his fist flew.

The man across the hood of the truck was no match for Neil. The bodyguard let loose two blows and pulled back. “The lady said no.”

“Where the hell did you come from?” one of the men from the bar yelled as he shoved his way into the mix.

More people poured out from the bar to watch the drama. Justin was sure at least one cell phone zeroed in on him. A bar fight in a parking lot in Texas was probably not the best way to get votes.

“It’s all over, buddy. The big guy here is just protecting an innocent woman,” Justin said trying is best to defuse the situation.

“She looked willing to me,” the guy yelled before the stranger���s fist flew and connected with Justin’s face.

He spun around and came up low, tackling his attacker around his waist and shoving him onto the nearest car.

Everything exploded around him. Justin took another blow to his torso before he returned punch for punch. Adrenaline ran through his veins like fire, fueling his swings. Muscle memory took action and within twenty seconds, Justin had the man pinned to the car alongside his buddy. “No, always means no!”

The man under him stopped struggling. Men from the bar broke through the crowd like linebackers at the fifty-yard line.

“Dammit, Jimmy, what are you two doing?” someone called.

Justin pushed away from the man he’d fought and stepped out of swing range. He stared at his enemy, waiting for him to flinch.

He didn’t.”

“Neil,” Justin yelled. “Why don’t you take Lady Gwen back to her rooms? I’ll ride with Selena.”

Selena patted Gwen on the back. “I’ll see you back at the hotel.”

When Justin focused on Selena, she had her arm looped through Gwen’s, both of them stared at the crowed with unease.

Gwen nodded.

He motioned for Selena to move to her car.

“My purse is in the bar,” she told him.

Neil escorted both women away from the drunken men, and Justin went inside after her purse.

He picked up Gwen’s designer bag and then Selena’s. Yet when his hand landed on Selena’s bag her felt something hauntingly familiar inside. Unable to stop himself, he opened the purse and found exactly what he thought he’d see.

[forumtechgq-blog]

A quick NAS with class: 5 months with the Synology DS-412+ Expensive yet brisk system stockpiling has huge amounts of elements—and gigabit Ethernet speed.

Last year, when Ars distributed our two-section DroboFS audit (Part 1, Part 2), one of the solicitations we continued hearing was for a comparable top to bottom survey of other home-situated system joined capacity (NAS) items, especially those from Synology. A couple of months prior, I bought a Synology DS-412+ to supplant my DroboFS (which I have since passed on to my folks) and I've been living with it since.

In with the new

Different contenders in the home NAS space incorporate QNAP, NetGear, and Iomega, however I ran with Synology predominantly because of their notoriety for execution. The DroboFS was the very meaning of "simple to utilize," however after over a year the moderate read and compose speeds just turned out to be excessively. In the wake of scouring discussions and surveys to discover a substitution, I continued returning to the then-recently discharged DS-412+.

Synology separates its models over a few lines, and every gadget's expected target market can be divined by analyzing the model assignment. Units starting with a "RS" are "RackStation" models, proposed to be mounted in standard server farm 19-inch racks; "DS" units are "DiskStation" models, which sit on the floor or on a work area as opposed to in a rack. The principal number after the DS or RS is the greatest number of circle drives the gadget underpins (however achieving that number for a few models requires an outside development sound). The following two digits are the year the model entered creation, with all models marked down today having either 11, 12, or 13 (yes, a couple models now convey a 13—don't inquire). The last character shows anything unique about the model—a "+" if it's a business-class unit with additional oomph, a "j" for passage level models which organize reasonableness over execution, or a "thin" for units which acknowledge 2.5" hard plate drives.

The DS-412+, then, is a four-inlet independent unit, delivered in 2012, with an accentuation on execution. It contrasts from the prior DS-411 model it's supplanting by having a speedier CPU (a 2.1GHz Intel Atom D2700 versus a 1.6GHz ARM) and four times the RAM (1GB versus 256MB). The extra RAM and CPU are both helpful, not only to provide more pull for quicker document exchanges additionally to give the client more headroom for running applications on the NAS. A decent library of both official and homegrown applications develops the gadget's usefulness, as well.

A word on cost

I'll simply ahead and ruin the completion of this audit now: the main thing I really need to gripe about with this NAS is the cost. You'll pay in any event $650 for it before charges and delivering, contingent upon the trader you purchase from—and that is with no circles in it. It wouldn't be at all hard to part together an a great deal more effective little frame figure white-box server for significantly less cash; hurl in a couple of hard circle drives and a free working framework like FreeNAS and you have yourself a superbly serviceable capacity framework.

What you're conceivably surrendering while running with a home-assembled gadget is support, a guarantee, usability, and—at any rate on account of Synology—a solid programming environment. For somebody substance to be his own sysadmin, the possibility of adding a frankenNAS to the storage room in the lair isn't really that overwhelming; truth be told, in case you're that sort of individual, you may have stopped perusing as of now and backpedaled to building your RAID-Z vdevs or whatever it is that you parents do. An immense portion of customary individuals, however, can't or don't have any desire to manage home-constructed servers. Such servers can be a great deal like venture autos—quick and enjoyable to tinker with, however frequently bearish, time-sucking beasts.

A NAS gadget like the Synology exchanges time for extra cost, and it arrives prepared to go. There are diverse models at various costs; in the event that you don't require as much space yet at the same time need the interface, you can get a two-narrows unit rather; in the event that you realize that will require a LOT of space, you can run with an eight-sound unit, or pick the five-inlet unit and include a development skeleton later. For me, the four-inlet DS-412+ met the sweet spot for execution and cost.

(Take note of: This is not a survey unit, and Synology wasn't required in this audit. This is a NAS that I purchased with my own well deserved dollars and which I've been utilizing each day for a while—generally by viewing a scene or two of "Dim's Anatomy" with my better half while we have supper, additionally for more genuine attempts.)

Physicality

The DS-412+ is a moderately little gadget. It's generally cubular (that is my pledge and I'm adhering to it) and all dark with a unique finger impression drawing in lustrous complete on the removable drive cove cover. It has four drive straights with minimal plastic removable caddies in which you secure your plates for simple inclusion and removal.In option to the four inner drives, the DS-412+ has USB 3 and eSATA ports for appending extra drives, which can be utilized essentially for additional outer stockpiling or which can be brought under the NAS's administration and used to extend existing NAS volumes or include new ones.

The unit isn't particularly overwhelming, and the clamor level of the NAS itself is low; its fans are tranquil, and relying upon the sorts of plates picked, you could without much of a stretch arrange the NAS on or beneath your work area and never see it. Notwithstanding, I have it socked away in my storage room in light of the fact that the circles I picked are very noisy; when the NAS is occupied, I can hear them granulating ceaselessly even through a shut entryway. This is my own blame, however, in light of the fact that I ran with plates that organize unwavering quality and execution over calm operation. I settled on the correct decision for me, however it may not be the correct decision for you.Choosing circles

To round out the DS-412+, I got four 2TB Western Digital RE4-GP undertaking class SATA plates. The decision to run with the more dependable endeavor class drives was a simple one; I'd encountered presumably one circle disappointment each three or four months with my DroboFS, which was populated with 2TB Western Digital Green plates. Notwithstanding having a more extended guarantee, the RE4-GPs have better vibration resistance (imperative when you have a few circles pressed into a little space) and, most critical of all, default bolster for cutting edge mistake recuperation control, or "Time Limited Error Recovery" in Western Digital speech.

ERC/TLER is indispensably essential for any turning circle drive utilized as a part of a RAID set, since it controls the measure of time a hard plate drive controller holds up when it experiences a read or compose mistake before it reports the blunder to the host framework and starts endeavoring to recoup from it. Without ERC, a plate drive in a RAID set which keeps running into an awful division on read could get itself dropped from the RAID set altogether by the RAID controller, which could thusly trigger a full RAID re-work to a hot extra (with the execution affect that acquires) or could just leave the RAID set in a corrupted state. With ERC, however, the RAID controller is offered time to recoup from little read and compose mistakes by revamping the particular erroring tracks from alternate circles, instead of rebuilding the whole RAID set since it supposes the plate is awful. Single-part blunders and remaps are entirely normal, and without a circle that backings ERC you risk a modest, effortlessly recoverable mistake changing into a framework affecting occasion. (Try not to stress if so much discussion over RAID is befuddling—we'll quickly examine what RAID is and how it applies in Synology-arrive in a minute.)

Venture class drives may be needless excess, notwithstanding. I obtained the gadget in late April 2012, so at the time Western Digital hadn't yet discharged its WD Red NAS drives; in the event that they had been accessible, I would likely have run with them. They offer a decent bargain between the unwavering quality and additional firmware components of big business class drives, and the lower cost of shopper review outfit. There are obviously other drive makers out there other than Western Digital; while nobody else has yet started offering a hard plate drive promoted particularly for customer and independent company NAS gadgets like the WD Red, any circle drive which has a decent guarantee and backings ERC will make a fine choice.Setting up

Synology gadgets have a phenomenal Web interface, which we'll talk about in the blink of an eye, however the underlying setup requires the establishment of the Synology Assistant application, which looks on your LAN for crisp Synology boxes. The Synology Assistant goes ahead a plate with the gadget, yet as with most included programming, you will in all likelihood be in an ideal situation downloading the most current adaptation from the Synology bolster website. Once began, the right hand will sniff around your system and present you with a rundown of Synology units it has detected.My unit sent without a rendition of the Disk Station Manager (DSM) programming introduced, thus it showed up in the rundown of accessible NAS units as "Not introduced." Clicking on it began the setup procedure, amid which you can set up the gadget's name, change its default head secret key, and segment its crashes into at least one usable volumes of space. The procedure was unremarkable, with the exception of the graphical oddities experienced under OS X. This did not rouse certainty. Luckily, however the installer looked somewhat odd, the introduce procedure fell off with no issues.Though the Synology gadget bolsters a scope of various drive setups, you can check a solitary box in the colleague to forego all that conceivably complex circle arrangement stuff and essentially make a solitary Synology Hybrid RAID volume. I carefully picked this. The gadget then started the way toward applying the design decisions I made.Once it was done, I could start up a program and go to http://diskstation:5000, where I was welcomed with the completely staggering (and stunningly utilitarian) Synology DiskStation Manager.Hybrid RAID and other volume decisions.