#may he have more than 5 1/2 minutes of screentime. yes i counted.

[vcndrell]

Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch in Ant-Man and the Wasp

[professionalfixator]

The Complicated Relationship of Gilbert and Moody

An Analysis That No One Asked For But Got Anyway 

By G.H. Tehrani, Psychology Student

The relationship of Gilbert Blythe and Moody Spurgeon is complicated to say the least. It is also complicated to analyze, given that the amount of screentime of them is extremely limited, ranging anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. But from this little screentime showrunner Moira Walley-Beckett gave us, there is a lot to break down. While you may think this is an unimportant relationship to break down (why not Moody and Charlie, or Gilbert and Billy?), Gilbert and Moody could actually have a large role in future seasons and can say something really interesting about the state of society - but more on those later.  First, we have to take it back to the beginning. 

Where It All Started: Season 1 

As you all know, because we are watching from Anne’s perspective, we meet the schoolkids after they have all known each other for years. We don’t know exactly how long they have known each other, but since it’s a small town, I’m going to guess it’s been since they were little kids. 

In episode 3, Gilbert walks into the schoolhouse and we instantly know his social role. He’s the tall, smart, popular guy with the dark eyes that all the girls love. Interestingly enough, the first person to call out Gilbert’s name when he returns to school is Moody, who immediately pulls him away to ask him all about his travelling adventures. 

Moody is, simply put, the opposite of Gilbert in Season 1. He’s shorter than the other boys, chubby and jolly. It’s not a far cry to say that Moody admired Gilbert, and aspired to be like him, especially since Gilbert is a year older. Most of the boys did. Moody most likely always wished that he could have the same kind of attention that Gilbert gets from the girls, instead of just being called “ridiculous” (as Diana delightfully put it). No one would ever call Gilbert ridiculous...he’s Gilbert! 

We can tell by their interactions that Gilbert is at least vaguely friends with Moody and the other boys. He jokes around with them, goofs off in class, and generally seems to be having a good time with them. 

But when Gilbert’s father dies in Season 1 Episode 6, we see a drastic change in Gilbert’s personality, and this lends itself to changes within his relationships as well. 

Gilbert’s Crisis: Season 1 to Season 2

After Mr. Blythe’s death at the end of Season 1, we see a much more emotionally disturbed version of Gilbert. He’s grieving, and not taking it well. He pushes everyone away, including Anne, and punches Billy in the face when he calls him his “bud”. Although we don’t see Moody in any of this, we do get a look inside Gilbert’s head. The insensitivity of his classmates puts him off and for the first time, he sees the gap between him and them. They’re still kids and don’t understand the weight of what he’s going through. This most likely factored into his decision to leave town and travel the world.

When he meets Bash, it seems like Bash gets through to him, helping him heal from his father’s death. He sings, writes letters to Anne, and seems like he’s having the time of his life (who wouldn’t be, travelling is awesome). He also discovers his passion for medicine when he gives birth to a baby in Trinidad. 

Growing Up: Season 2

While Gilbert was travelling the world, Moody was having some firsts of his own. He has his - presumably - first kiss in Season 2 Episode 5, when he’s forced to kiss Diana during spin the bottle. But overall, it seems like he was still the same character he was in Season 1, just a little older, but that could be because we hardly get to see him this season, at least in the first 5 or so episodes. 

But it seems that travelling did Gilbert a world of good, because when he returns to Avonlea with Bash, we see him chatting with his schoolmates. 

He seems perfectly fine here, almost like his old sociable self, but there’s a distance there. Things can’t quite be the same. He agrees to help with the pantomime, but stays off to the side, not interacting with any of his schoolmates. He actually never interacts with his schoolmates after that brief shot in Episode 6 of Season 2, except for going to help Cole when he breaks his wrist (thanks, Billy), but that doesn't entirely count, since he was in Doctor Blythe mode. In every schoolhouse scene, Gilbert is sitting by himself studying for his vocation. We really don't see any kind of Gilbert-schoolmate relationship, nevermind Gilbert and Moody. The only times we see them in the same scene or frame was:

1. When Moody is backstage during the pantomime and Gilbert is manning the rig, however we don't see them speak to each other,

And 2. When Moody is about to lick the lightbulb and Gilbert, Anne and literally everyone else in the room yell at him not to.

So, this leaves us with Season 3, where most of Gilbert and Moody's interactions occur, and where we can really closely study their relationship.

At Odds: Season 3

At the start of Season 3, we're put at a bit of disadvantage. We have no idea what happened in the last 2 years since Season 2, but we can assume that it followed the same pattern, the schoolkids growing up and having new experiences, while Gilbert drifted away into adulthood.

At the beginning of Season 3, we see him playing hockey with the boys, so he isn't completely detached (yet). Gilbert is still ignoring Ruby (more on that later) and Moody is flirting with Diana. 

Again they don't interact. Now, just because we don't SEE them interact doesn't mean that they never do, but it's safe to say that outside of the canon scenes, they don't either. Case in point: the 3x01 classroom scene. Gilbert is sitting in a corner reading a book, and Moody is on the other end of the room talking with some other boys. No interaction.

Gilbert is playing with them, yes, but that doesn't mean he is ONE of them, not anymore anyway. (Note: It is mentioned that he leaves often to go to Charlottetown for his apprenticeship with Dr. Ward.) The boys probably view him as less of a peer and more of this distant figure who is sometimes there and sometimes isn't.

But! Remember what we mentioned early on in this essay: "It’s not a far cry to say that Moody admired Gilbert, and aspired to be like him, especially since Gilbert is a year older. [...] Moody most likely always wished that he could have the same kind of attention that Gilbert gets from the girls."

Things have changed now, Moody is older. Slimmer and taller, but that doesn't mean he's not still insecure. He still respects Gilbert and his opinion. The evidence for this? 

1. In 3x05, when Moody is injured and the Indigenous healer offers him the leaf of a weeping tree, he initially refuses, only accepting because it was Gilbert who told him it was okay to eat it, 

2. Also in 3x05, Moody asks Dr. Gilbert if it’s okay to dance, but Gilbert says no, so he doesn’t dance, 

3. And in 3x07, when Moody rightfully criticizes Anne for her article, the moment Gilbert claps back at him in her defence, he immediately shuts up and looks almost sheepish - showing us that he really values Gilbert’s opinion, even though earlier on they are clearly seen arguing - only interrupted by Miss Stacy’s paper airplane. 

These are all moments that show us that Moody respects Gilbert, because he’s older and is studying to be a doctor. However, he is the only one that thinks that way. By this point, most of the Avonlea boys don’t want to be friends with Gilbert anymore (this is made clear by the fact that none of the boys are seen talking to him ever). Gilbert has pushed them away enough times for them to stay away. But Moody is the only one who still wants to be friends with Gilbert. This is evidenced by: 

1. In 3x08, Moody actively attempts to make conversation with Gilbert at Miss Stacy’s house. He asks him about Winifred and invites him to the ruins (possibly hopeful that he would actually show up), 

2. Also in 3x08, Moody hyperventilates and yells, “Where is Gilbert!?” - either because of Gilbert’s doctor status or because he wanted him to be there for moral support, 

3. In 3x09, when they’re rebuilding the school, Moody AGAIN tries to make conversation with Gilbert, asking him about Winnie and what he’s going to do after he’s married, but Gilbert blows him off and walks away in the middle of their conversation, 

4. and finally, in 3x10, when they get their exam results, Moody congratulates Gilbert by calling him PEI’s finest.  

More than once we see Moody try to be Gilbert’s friend, supportive of him, and time and time again Gilbert blows him off or treats him like he’s less than. Because in Gilbert’s mind, he is. Moody could never understand him. We can tell by his responses to Moody’s advances. Blank stare, eyebrows, “That’s not how it works”, “I know what you meant Moody” or just not showing up. He doesn’t show up to the ruins, the only reason he went there was to talk to Anne. He treats Moody like he’s below him or just one of his patients - like in 3x05. 

Not to mention that he purposefully humiliated him in 3x07 in front of Ruby. Moody was right about Anne’s article, and he was in the right to voice his opinion, and Gilbert arguably crossed a line by putting him down, exposing Moody’s feelings for Ruby to the class (don’t think Gilbert chose a random person for his demonstration). 

But, I’m not going to get too ahead of myself, because we haven’t even talked about Ruby yet. 

Gilbert, Moody and Ruby: Season 1 to Season 3

Ruby genuinely loved Gilbert. 

That’s a bold statement, but it is arguably true. She cared for him, about as much as a 10 to 16-year-old could given their less developed prefrontal cortex. Sure, it was a little obsessive, but you can’t tell me there wasn’t some actual feeling in there. In 1x03, Josie tells us Ruby has liked Gilbert for three years, and by the time we get to Season 3, six years. 

S i x y e a r s. For Ruby to be able to like Gilbert for six years, she must have seen something in him other than looks (though she mentions it the most). In Season 1, Gilbert is handsome, kind, charismatic, and smart. I could see where she’s coming from. He was a good guy. 

But here’s the thing, for all of Ruby’s love and adoration, Gilbert never gave her a single thing back. (Yes, he lifted her off the ground, but that was because Anne was there.) 

Not once did Gilbert ever do anything nice for Ruby because he actually wanted to. No matter what Ruby would do, how obvious she made her feelings, Gilbert ignored her and liked Anne - her best friend(!) instead. The gentlemanly thing to do would have been to tell Ruby he wasn’t interested in her, but that never happened. I don’t know if that makes Gilbert an oblivious boy or a jerk. But he couldn’t have been that oblivious since he’s an observant guy. 

The only explanation would be that he didn’t see Ruby an important person to clear things up with. Again, we see Gilbert deeming people less than because of his own cognitive bias toward thinking he is superior to everyone else in maturity because of his life experience. The only reason he paid any attention to Anne in the first place, was because he deemed her as an equal to his superior maturity, which she was. 

Given all this, where does Moody fit in? 

Moody was always a good friend to Ruby. We don’t see it very much, but they were in the same school together, and Moody helped her and Anne save Miss Stacy. 

But that also means, being Ruby’s acquaintance/friend, he watched her cry over Gilbert for six years. 

For six years, he has seen Ruby try and fail to get Gilbert’s attention and be disappointed when it doesn’t work out. A never-ending cycle of tears and hurt, that Moody could do nothing to help because he was just her guy friend. We know Moody wants to help people -  that’s why he’s going to become a minister - so for him to be unable to help Ruby is just painful. 

In Season 3, Moody has experienced a similar situation with Diana (Diana deems people less than because of her superior social status and wealth), so now he knows how Ruby feels and he’s even more empathetic toward her.

Does Moody harbor resentment toward Gilbert for his treatment of Ruby? Maybe. 

In 3x03, when Ruby is crying over Gilbert’s absence (again) and accidentally wrote his name in the newspaper. Everyone laughs but Moody looks on sympathetically, showing this is upsetting him more than it is amusing him. 

When Ruby says, “Gilbert was so heroic”, Moody gives her his handkerchief, which in that time period was a very heroic thing to do. It’s an act of romance and the first nice thing a boy has ever done for Ruby...which is kind of sad if you think about it. Moody is conveying in that moment that Gilbert isn’t the only heroic boy in Avonlea (he is too). 

This means so much to her, that she ends up getting over Gilbert and falling for Moody instead, which is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen on TV. 

The Future of Gilbert and Moody: Season 4 and Beyond

Even though Anne with an E was sadly cancelled in November 2019, due to an ongoing dispute between Netflix and CBC, that doesn’t mean we can’t theorize about the content of a future Season 4 and 5. 

We know Moody is going to be going to Queens withe rest of his classmates and Gilbert is going to University of Toronto. However, Moody’s time at Queens is probably temporary. In the books, he becomes a minister, so I searched up Bible Colleges in Canada to see where he would be able to train as one. I discovered that a new college had just opened in the late 1890s: Toronto Bible College, which trained common-folk as missionaries and ministers. 

The cool part? Toronto Bible College was down the street from University of Toronto. 

Moody and Gilbert would be going to school together, maybe even rooming together, for the next 3 years. 

How would their relationship in Seasons 1 - 3 factor in to their experience as roommates? It would be interesting to see Moody confront Gilbert for what he did to Ruby. This would give Gilbert an opportunity to redeem himself and be likable again. 

Some Controversial Conclusions on Gilbert Blythe 

I started this essay in early January, but it is now late March and I have left the Anne with an E fandom. One of the reasons I left was the growing toxicity and idealization of Gilbert. All the time I would see tweets and posts claiming that, “Gilbert is my dream man”, “I wish I had a guy like Gilbert”, “The only good guys are fictional (Gilbert)”. It ticked me off because it’s just not true. Gilbert is not a good guy. He is a jerk with a superiority complex. 

In every version of Anne, Gilbert completely worships Anne. He adores her, writes poems for her, almost dies without her. He is very needy and clingy, and we view that as romantic, because we want to be worshiped. 

Dating Gilbert would include him being unable to survive without you, constantly fearing you’re going to fall out of love with him, needing constant reiteration of your feelings, showering you with affection and flowery words, and possibly not allowing you to have any male friends. That isn’t romantic. 

Being true equals in a secure relationship would be understanding that you love each other - and being secure in that - and being able to let them be free to do the things they want to do without constantly needing validation. I’m not saying Gilbert in AWAE is toxic, but he has severe communication issues that no girl should have to put up with. 

Note: I’m not saying that Gilbert is a bad person through and through. He is a gentle soul, we see it in his interactions with Bash, Mary and Delphine. A lot of his negative actions may have subconscious causes. But we’re not slaves to our subconscious. Even if we are implicitly being a jerk, there are still conscious ways to change our behavior and become better people.  

[curestardust]

if you want: great animation / vampires 

I was initially drawn to this anime due to the character designs. And that’s basically all I got as well.

Let me start with some of the good stuff first. The production value is up to par. The animation is great and especially shows its strength during melee encounters. The music was also a amazing to me with mostly electronic and synth heavy tracks. And umm...yeah.

Now, what was my main problem with Sirius? It completely breaks the “Show, don’t tell” rule. As in, this anime takes monolouging and flashbacks to the next level. As i said above, the fights are nice, however they’re not very long and don’t seem to have any structure to them (just go, shooty, stabby, boom boom and it’s over). This is a problem because these fights are the highlights of the whole thing. The rest of the time we’re either watching a 10 minute long fight scene or someone giving us some mad exposition to either themselves or some other character who don’t respond to anything they’re saying. It becomes so mindnumbingly boring after a while that I wanted to scream everytime it happened after a while.

The second problem is the characters and how many there are. Too many, is the answer. We have our main character Yuliy, his gang of 4 characters. Then 2 other unrelated characters shove themselves into the protagonists bussiness and then we have the antagonists aka the vampires. It’s even worse that almost everyone has a different plotline and we don’t see them interacting much so there’s no time for us to get invested in them. In my opinion, the 2 unrelated characters could’ve been easily cut out of the story and nothing would’ve been lost.

And the last thing is the story. It’s just so...meh? The initial clonfict is that there are jaegers and vampires and they’re trying to kill each other. Right. Then we find out about some artifact that everyone wants and then rest of the story is just people chasing after the item. The item which we don’t really know anything about or what it does. Riveting stuff.

Listen, if you want some nice animation mixed with some supernatural stuff, you might like this but if Sirius didn’t catch your attention the first time, no reason to go back to it. [6/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: well, it’s BNHA lmao / amazing animation / amazing music / shounen / superpowers and heroes / to have a good fucking time

So yeah, I’ve finally gotten around to watching BNHA and goddamn, does it deserve the hype surrounding it.

I don’t want to draw this out much. Everyone knows what BNHA is at this point so giving an extensive review for it would be kinda useless. Let’s see...the animation is incredible and I could count on one hand the wonky characters I saw throughout all 13 episodes and those were all faraway shots. The music also falls into the same category, nothing to complain about. Same with the voice-acting. Like DAMN. Most importantly though, not only is the technical aspect of the anime more than up to par, they work together in way where if even one aspect was worse, we wouldn’t have gotten the same quality. The flawless and detailed animation gives a feeling to the fights while the music swells and quiets at exactly the right times to make your heart beat faster and get you as invested as possible. It’s truly amazing and I can’t praise it enough.

The story and the characters lack in some areas but not in a drastically bad way. They don’t take away from the overall experience at all and my complains are more nitpicky than anything. They did well with the short runtime the first season had. Besides the (2) main character(s) we have a few more who are part of the main cast, who get the most screentime. Then we’ve the rest of the class. Making all of them unique characters and giving each of them at least some amount of screentime was a great choice that pays off in the latter half of the season but some of them still felt really expendable and could’ve been removed without any detriment to the story. Still, it’s fine. 

They managed to fit a surprising amount of plot into these episodes. Our main character goes through an entire personal arc, then we have the school arc and then the ending arc. Throughout the first two, there’s also a rivalry plot that further develops our characters and their relationship. 

This is a shounen and it’s obvious that the target democraphic is kids. The sometimes ridiculously cartoonish superpowers and constant flashbacks to certain scenes remind you of that. And it’s...and incredible anime of its kind. Watching it made me feel like when I watched Naruto as a young kid. The world, the characters and the powers got me completely immersed and absolutely hyped. [9/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: immature and over-the-top comedy / virgin beta male main characters

Grand Blue is admittedly wild and all over the place and yet, it left such a small impression on me that I don’t even know what to write about it.

As last season’s most viewed anime were surprisingly decent, I decided to go ahead and check out the 2018 Summer Season’s most popular original anime: Grand Blue.

We start out with a quite normal set-up. Iori is going to start going to college and has decided to move to his uncle’s diving shop for the time being. At about 5 minutes into the first episode, all hell breaks lose. Iori immediately runs into a bunch of buff naked guys loudly shouting in the lobby at which point he decides to peace out and go back home. But we wouldn’t have this anime if he succeded so this is where he gets introduced to 2 members of the diving club who very enthusiastically urge him to join as well. Later on, the diving club grows in numbers by one of Iori’s female cousins, Chisa, a weirdly aggressive weeb guy, Kouhei, and another member whom I won’t spoil.

Now, don’t get confused. Grand Blue isn’t a diving anime, even though the majority of the time we’re watching the various messes the diving club gets into.

GB is a comedy. The jokes are basically that everyone is constantly getting drunk and naked. And that when characters’ react to things their faces morph into overly detailed ridiculous expressions, reminiscent of Asobi Asobase. But would that be enough to shoot this anime to the top? Ha. The reason this is such a fan favorite is that the main characters are virgin beta males. I’m guessing the general weeb audience finds this very relatable (lmao). When I read a review saying that this was finally a “manly anime” because it had beta cucks and buff guys, my brain basically went blue screen and tried to reboot itself. 

I ain’t gonna lie, I laughed and chuckled at a lot of stuff. However, about halfway, Iori and Kohei somehow befriend a group of other virgins from their class and we suddenly got segments of them hanging out and I HATEEEEEED all of those scenes. The whole thing was that they wanted to FUCK the wohman VERY much. And it was so boring and just plain not funny. Not to mention, all of their friends were completely despicable and disgusting and I just UGH.

No one has a personality in this anime. Iori goes from “I respect wohman” to “I wanna fuck the wohman very much, boobies” in 5 seconds, depending on who he is with. Everyone else has about 1 personality trait which are only used to make jokes. I don’t even remember anyone’s name, I had to look them up for this review.

Sometimes Grand Blue is hilarous. Sometimes cringe-inducing. Honestly, if you want some mindless, meaningless and really over-the-top comedy, you may like this but if you’re looking for anything else from an anime then no, it isn’t worth watching. [5/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

[swan2swan]

TFA Rey and TLJ Rey: Acting vs. Reacting

This could easily go on for longer than I want it to, but I realized the other day that one of the stark contrasts between Daisy Ridley’s performances in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi comes from the number of times she acts vs. when she reacts.

What’s the difference between “acting” and “reacting”? Acting is when a character clearly has a choice (however much of a split-second decision it might be), and then takes action that indicates a clear definition of character. Marty McFly’s dad punching Biff, Ellie Sattler running to help Alan Grant close a door, Ripley arming up to go and rescue Newt, Leia mocking Tarkin and sneering at him, those are all actions. Reacting is when a character doesn’t have another viable option in a scene, and the actor is basically just performing in how the character would respond to a situation. Marty McFly’s dad wincing as headphones blaze in his ear, Ellie Sattler dropping a severed arm and running from a velociraptor, Ripley frustratedly screaming as she watches Newt be dragged away, Leia screaming “WHAT?” as Tarkin announces that he’s going to destroy Alderaan anyway, these are reactions. 

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Rey’s presence in The Force Awakens was heavily driven by her actions, while her role in The Last Jedi was driven by her reactions. She wasn’t devoid of actions in the second movie, obviously: she chased Luke for the first act of the movie, she made the decision to try and rescue Ben, she ran away from the exploding ship, she went down to Crait, and I guess she even stole the sacred texts (we don’t really see that, though, so I don’t know if that counts). But there are a number of scenes that, well...here are the examples.

I’m going to start with what might be the most obvious contrast, even if it’s not the most definitive: the Call. In The Force Awakens, Rey feels a mysterious pull as she hears her own child voice crying out, and, well:

She stands at the top of the stairs and makes a choice to go down.

Now, this is almost like she’s in a trance, so it’s debatable as to whether or not she’s fully in control here, but Daisy plays this with curiosity and concern--she’s not walking along in a hypnotized state, but as someone genuinely curious and in need of an answer.

Then a door magically opens. Was this Rey? Maz? The lightsaber? A malfunction? A regular old automatic door? Who knows? It seems magical, though, so this one isn’t quite an action (though Rey has little to no reaction to this, again, trance?).

Finally, though, Rey goes in and opens the box herself. The box doesn’t magically pop open. She chooses to unlatch it and slowly lift the lid to find the saber inside, and then she reaches out and grabs it, and is then overwhelmed by the vision, stumbles out, talks to Maz, and then chooses to run. Action! Decision! Definition!

...so now let’s look at what happens in The Last Jedi...

Okay, so that’s from It, but the cave scene isn’t available in good quality yet, and the point is the same: Rey gets physically dragged in. Yes, she goes to the edge and looks down first, but there’s no moment where Rey says “I want to go down there and face whatever darkness is in there” (arguably character development for later, but that’s another essay!). Rey goes and considers, and is then suddenly dragged into an...evil house of mirrors. Where she stands, looks around, and clicks her fingers. It’s a cool scene, but Rey doesn’t make decisions, she doesn’t work to find her way out or actively showcase her learning, she doesn’t reject the terrifying visions of everyone she’s met dying or face an evil doppelganger of herself, she just finds out that she’s afraid of being alone. Or something. It’s really unclear, and the point is, Rey’s actions there are “click my fingers to see if these are other people or just my reflection”, and not “I’m going to lift the lid of this mysterious box and take this weird weapon” or even “I’m going to run away from everything forever because that will solve my problems” (sidenote: I really love the look on Maz’s face when Rey runs away from everything forever).

(sidenote: reaction to Rey’s action)

(further sidenote: look at Daisy run that is just hilarious)

Now, I could make this essay longer by putting more shot-by-shot examples, but here are three key Rey action moments from The Force Awakens:

1. Choosing to go and rescue BB-8 from Teedo (and straighten his antenna!), and then choosing to let BB-8 follow her.

2. Choosing not to sell BB-8 for food.

3. Charging at Finn when BB-8 tells her about the jacket. 

Note: these are all in her first ten minutes of screentime. Later on, you have her choosing the course to take in the Falcon, shutting the door on the Rathtars, bypassing the compressor, shooting stormtroopers (with the safety OFF!), pushing back against Kylo’s interrogation, mind-tricking a stormtrooper, escaping, feeling the Force and using it to push Kylo back, and then ultimately climbing the steps. Among others, but those are the big ones (also, important note: Act-1 protagonists often have a lot more reacting taking place, because they’re ending up in a story they didn’t choose, it’s the second and third act where they become more in charge). 

One of Rey’s big action moments from The Last Jedi was cut (rushing to save the village), but some of the remaining ones were:

1. Following Luke and demanding his help (all good!).

2. Practicing with the lightsaber (pretty good).

3. Asserting that she won’t fail Luke like Kylo (data not found).

4. Fighting Luke to save Ben (action or reaction?)

5. Refusing Kylo’s hand (action or reaction?)

6. Flying the Falcon and saving everyone (yessss)

7. Lifting the rocks (action or reaction?)

8. Shutting the door on Kylo’s stupid face (action or reaction?).

There are a few more, but you may notice that some key moments are missing. The duel with the guards, for example: that’s really a no-choice scenario. What’s she going to do? Just run from the room? Apologize? Leave? No, she’s stuck fighting her way out. The fight scene is started by Kylo, and she’s his backup dancer--he’s the one who acts in that scene, and Rey is the one who reacts. 

This is also why I question so many of her actions in the second movie: is she doing these because it’s in-character, or because it moves our plot along and is done according to the actions of Snoke and Kylo? Rey doesn’t rush off to save the dying Resistance fleet or to save her captive friends, she goes because she's been tricked into thinking that she can save Kylo--she never thinks about if it could be a trap, she never persuades Chewbacca to help her with the scheme, she basically says “Okay, I will come to you.” The actions throughout the film belong to Snoke and Kylo, who were reacting in the first film as Rey did more and more things that they did not expect.

But by far the most essential crux to the argument comes from the scene most people have talked about with Rey: the revelation of her heritage, or rather, the elimination of her heritage. The scene where she learns about her parents gives Daisy nothing to do but to stand there and react in horror. She doesn’t beat the information out of Kylo or engage in conversation with Luke, she doesn’t thumb through First Order archives or confess that she’s always known the truth but never wanted to believe it--Daisy Ridley just stands there and looks upset. She cries, and she struggles, and then she runs away again; she doesn’t even have a chance to wrestle with her future after that. There’s no scene of her in the Millennium Falcon, talking to Chewbacca about what this means for her now: if she has no falthier in this race, why should she risk her life? Should she return to Luke and resume her training, or rush to the planet to try and save her friends from impossible odds, and most likely die fighting for them? We don’t get to see her making a choice, or even to be challenged in such a way. Because ultimately, in this movie, Rey’s character is simply a camera: she goes to Ach-To to let the audience see why Luke exiled himself, she goes to Snoke so we can see Kylo Ren kill him and claim the throne of the First Order, and then she goes to Crait to give our heroes an escape route while Luke holds off the invading forces. This is no crime for a protagonist, but when we compare it to Rey’s journey from the first movie, it’s no wonder Daisy Ridley’s name comes up behind Adam Driver’s in the credits. 

Further consideration:

1. How many actions did Finn take in the first movie, and how many did he take in the second movie? How many reactions did Finn take in the first movie, and how many did he take in the second?

2. How many actions did Luke Skywalker take in The Empire Strikes Back? How many reactions did he have?

3. How many actions did Padme take in Attack of the Clones? How many reactions did she have?

4. How many actions did Kylo Ren take in The Last Jedi? How many reactions did he have?

[raymondchougaming]

Reposts of Previous Posts on Multitasking

Though it does say “gaming,” it will mostly be on StarCraft.

=====

So today, we’re going to take a short change of pace and I’m going to reveal how I approach certain problems, especially in competitive aspects.

After my ladder games on Saturday, I noticed a few things:

1. I am losing due to terrible mechanics, since I am forcing myself to micro a lot more

2. I didn’t know the meta

So #2 was fixed by just watching a lot of GSL, but #1…is the purpose of the discussion today.

My multitasking, in its current state, is a problem. Right now I will solve the approach to it, in order to facilitate maximum effectiveness when I go to practice it.

As in solving any problem, it helps to identify all of the different factors, the exact problem, and perhaps a few approaches to solving that we can test out.

Well, since this is a multitasking problem, maybe it would help to list all of the things I have to do? I am going to group them into a few categories:

Macro: Build workers, drop mules, build units, get supply depots, specific upgrades, army upgrades, expansions, build static D, build more unit producing structures

Micro: Harassment control, large army control (sometimes both), includes strategic building placement

Careful watching: Minimap, money, bottom screen, alerts

The problem lies in the fact that my eyes can only be in one place at a time, and I can really only be doing one thing at a time. Furthermore, my screen can really only be in one place at a time. I play a VERY high APM race, and my style is high APM in general. It always has been, but I elected to lose a few units for better macro. The new approach is an attempt to optimize both.

There is peripheral vision, which can be utilized, but how effective is it truly? There is no sense in relying upon it, that is a recipe for disaster.

The eyes must almost always lay near the minimap after 3 minutes, as crazy shit could happen, or you might miss a probe off to do something devious…though it may be detrimental to stare at the minimap all of the time, as I know some players only look at the minimap when they are sure something is coming.

However, peripheral vision on the minimap is quite useful for a lot of players. Some players barely look at their minimap, but when they see a red dot show up, they utilize it fully.

Now that I’ve listed what I need to do, let’s list my possible attributes: Hand speed (including execution speed), mental processing speed, vision speed…interestingly enough, all of the speeds in this one book I read come into play. Vision speed, processing speed, decision speed, actual execution speed, and alteration speed (not applicable in this context). Decision speed can be reduced to almost 0 with a lot of practice (familiarity), the rest I already have really good except execution speed - I need to speed that up for my mouse. That comes with practice.

The biggest bear to tackle is - what should I focus on? What should I be doing at the time? Sometimes it’s just unrealistic to both macro and micro at the same time. Big teamfights especially, but there are little windows to squeeze them in. There should be.

Let’s lay down a few requirements for the solution, given all of the above:

=I must be able to have almost constant vision on my minimap =From time to time, I need to be able to glance at my money =Despite nearly constant micro, I need to be able to produce units at the same time =I need to be able to skip my screen away from whatever I am currently microing to drop mules, or place buildings

A few immediate conclusions we can draw from the requirements:

=In the middle of intense micro situations, /all screen time away from the micro must be as short as possible/ =Since I want to keep my eyes on the minimap, and generally I need to look at what I’m doing, /I should do as much micro as I can using the minimap as possible/. [An example is Brood War PvZ Corsairs hunting down overlords. Let’s be real…do I really need to skip to them and baby them as they hunt around the map? I just can right-click somewhere on the map, and if I see a lone red dot, I tell them to attack it. If I see a bunch of red dots, then I jump my screen to it to see what it is] =I do need to check my money from time to time…but even just darting my eyes in that direction can be dangerous. I need to know if I’m being close to supply blocked…so it’s an action I need to buy myself time for =Because my eyes are centered near the minimap, it makes a lot of sense to have my in-game timings based off of the CLOCK rather than SUPPLY =The bottom bar is right next to the hotkeys, it’s convenient when cycling through my control groups to check on production =It’s unrealistic to think that I can macro off of feel completely. At least in the beginning stages, therefore tapping is important. =I should try to have the units I’m microing closer to the bottom of the screen, so it’s near the minimap =Though there will be a lot of clicking on the minimap, my mouse accuracy isn’t the best so it’s honestly best to minimize that by using control groups as much as possible =I can literally see everything by looking at the minimap…it might sound dumb but in some instances I can actually be clicking on the screen via peripheral vision, but my eyes are actually on the minimap =I should keep my eyes resting on the corner between the minimap, the bottom screen, and the edge from the HUD to the actual screen =More vague; our setup must be as foolproof as possible, and not change throughout the course of the game =It’s a little unfortunate because in Brood War, we had minimap pings, which made staring at the minimap even more beneficial. In Starcraft 2, we don’t have that…but maybe little things like seeing an SCV idle next to a building could indicate to us that it’s done.

From these, we can draft a few procedures, and a few things to do.

1. Since midgame plans/openers are usually predetermined, it makes a lot of sense to pre-prepare macro hotkey sequences 2. Since a lot of actions are quite common throughout the game, it makes sense to practice the shit out of them, and have a hotkey setup that makes such an action capable of being done quickly (I have already done this) 3. Such sequences also offer us an opportunity to gaze at the other things in the control group (since we can only have one selection at a time, it makes sense to gaze at other things whilst having that bottom thing selected) 4. In whatever intense micro situation we’re in, the necessary units we are controlling must be able to be selected quickly. Either that means our mouse is floating near them, or they are hotkeyed.

In short, our actions can be split up into two categories: those that require screentime, and those that don’t. For example, if you know the Terran isn’t dropping mines, and he’s got a marine drop at your base, you do need screentime to move the drones away, but you can actually micro the zerglings on the minimap (if your mouse accuracy is good enough) and keep your screen someplace else (perhaps injecting or moving your main army?)

The goal of this setup is to create a set of procedures that will keep our screen where it needs to be, and perform all other actions via alternate means.

So here we go!

1. Reduce the amount of clicks/button presses to accomplish a single action. This isn’t Brood War; spam move commands are actually just not necessary. Even in Brood War, good progamers rarely spammed move commands until it was an INTENSE micro situation. And even if the did, the fit as many macro motions in between the clicks as possible, or the took little breaks to squeeze in some macro motions.

2. Be able to control with “partial glances.” It’s JUST like texting and driving (don’t ask why I know that, I don’t do it I SWEAR but I thought a lot about how to do it if I were to do it because I know people that do it and I wanted to show them a safe way…) LOL. The key to “safe” texting and driving is to hold the phone up in a location near the road, and drive with peripheral vision, but glance up and down constantly. Macro actions (texting) are a lot less time-sensitive than micro actions (driving).

3. Glance up at your money during the most uninteresting part of the hotkey cycle, or every time you’re microing and your units get near the top or right corners of the screen. For example, the best time to check your money is when you build your units. Why? Well, assume you’re not controlling at the moment, like honestly what good is staring at your bottom bar during all of your production? You should know how many units you need to make by heart (unless you’re Zerg), and Protoss just spam clicks until the run out of gates/money. So really it’s only Terran that needs to count their units.

4. Don’t STARE at your money. I mean do you really need to? In fact, just dart your eyes up there and don’t think about it. The information will come to you a little later, but that’s okay. You process things surprisingly long after you see them.

5. Any action that requires any sort of waiting must be done in segments. For example, swapping Terran buildings. If you lift a building, the move command will not register until it is in the air. Or for example, unsieging tanks. Every time you do something like this, either use it as an excuse to do something else, or you can perform a quick screen switch. But do return immediately, or not too long after. Try not to start too many of these sequences. We will consider these actions as micro.

6. We need a foolproof process to do all of this. A foolproof cycle that we can just repeatedly run “MINDLESSLY,“ because our brains do not have any more capacity, and we need to reserve a little bit of brain energy for any mixups that they may throw at us.

So here is the flowchart:

1. Do I need to control right now? Yes (70% of the time), go to 2. No, go to 3.

2. Does my screen need to be on the unit? (For example, a hellion checking for expos doesn’t, but a mine drop may). If yes (which will be 90% of the time), go to 6. If not, go to 8.

3. Keep eyes rested between minimap and bottom screen, keep tap cycle going, which is [command centers/upgrade buildings; do I need to be making workers?] -> [production: do I need to make units? If necessary, click on one to check progress, or use the c screen hotkey to check briefly] -> am I making supply depots? -> move to 4

4. Is there a macro action that needs screen time? For example, building new production buildings, swapping buildings, building depots, or dropping mules? If so, do them now. -> move to 5

5. What’s next in my build? Do that. -> go to 1.

6. Are you controlling more than one group? If yes, EYES GLUED TO THE PART BETWEEN THE MINIMAP AND THE BOTTOM SCREEN. Hotkeys are crucial here, use the selection to judge the rough health of the units. Whichever group is doing worse, focus on that. Focus more on setting up for powerful positions where you don’t have to look at them. When controlling the more high priority one, every single opportunity when you can control the low priorit one, use the minimap to do so. Skip back for a bit if it’s worth, such as picking up some units and leaving, but only if the higher priority screen is set up. Throughout this entire time, think FIND AN EXCUSE TO MACRO [i.e. perform step 3]. Do not invest your 100% into micro, that will cost you - invest about 80%, so 20% of micro is autopilot and that frees up a bit of room to macro. Loop until engagement ends, then return to 1. If not, go to 7.

7. Only controlling one group: keep your screen there, looking for any excuse to macro. Look for any excuse to skip back if possible, to perform a segmented action (such as swapping buildings) Loop until done, then return to 1.

8. Micro via minimap, whilst performing step 3 and 4. Loop until complete, then return to 1.

This may seem a little complicated, but the tl;dr is

Micro, less clicks the better. If you can keep our screen elsewhere, do it, but eyes between the minimap and the bottom bar. You’re controlling the whole time, and tapping when you get a chance, but every time you make a unit (or every 5 taps), briefly glance at the money [while you’re making the unit]. (Tap sequence is SCV -> army -> depots -> tech/expand/upgrades/simcity routine check, last step is ignored in battle). If not microing, keep your screen for all of the screen-required actions, and do other things while you do those, keeping your eyes in the neutral position as much as possible.

Here’s a few of my pre-set keyboard sequences [bracketed means simultaneousl]:

TAPPING [whilst controlling harass or something, substitute r with 34567 if necessary]: wrer or wewer PRODUCTION CYCLE MID MICRO: wffr for workers, e[fd][fd][sg][gs]r[glance at workers] for 4 marines and 4 marauders. Notice how I always select my harass again! DROPPING MULES MID MICRO: [xw]d(click)d(click)rr DEPOT MID MICRO (assuming they are not where they need to be): (capslock to select the workers)(right click where they need to go on minimap, or use screenkey if that’s where it is)r micro a bit (capslock)fa(click)fa(click)[glance at money while clicking]rr

Let’s see how this works, it should cover everything!

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So yesterday, we discussed a general framework for multitasking. The idea was essentially to float our eyes in the “trifecta” between the minimap, bottom selection screen, and the actual screen. If not microing, then we would put our screen where it needed to be, whilst simultaneously tapping, and glancing up at the food here and there, as well as whenever we produced army units. If microing, we would put our screen on the micro portion if necessary (and if microing multiple armies, we can maybe let micro slip a little, oscillate between them, favoring the more attention-heavy engagements), and then control with as few clicks as possible and tap through our hotkeys. If an opportunity is given, we shoot our screen away to do a screen-necessary task, such as depots, or expanding.

Today I wanted to explore a different idea of multitasking - one having to do with strict pre-set build orders.

First, however, a few things need to be in place:

1. I need to thoroughly have the build order flushed out 2. I need to know all of the current “trendy” Protoss builds, and have done my homework by creating a list of scout timings, as to remove this task from my brain IN the game 3. Determine exactly how many units at what clock time he can have [rough estimate], as well as moments that are particularly scary for him, and moments that are particularly scary for me 4. Determine exactly, during my scout timings, what I am looking for, and have all of the conclusions/pre-responses planned out, so I can execute with as little thought as possible. This gives me brain space to focus on my mechanics, as well as in-game intelligence gathering, such as counting units. 5. Determine what I will hotkey to what, and where I will place my buildings 6. Determine when little scuffles will occur based on our build orders

Since the early game is so structured and ordered, we can sort of use a crutch until we get to mid-late game, when our framework can take over. If at any point we deviate too far from our build, however, we can abandon the crutch and rel on the framework.

So the first thing we should do is look at our build order, and look at the times when the most micro-intensive actions will occur. We will then plan around it, and create a few foolproof precautions. We can even use the micro situation as reminders for the timing of the build - which is crucial if the micro situation is really intense. For example, say I am doing the Fantasy Build vs 12 Hatch (Brood War TvZ, which is kind of funny because iLoveOov actually created the build). I can say to myself “on a medium-sized map like Destination, my Factory goes down just before my scout gets to his base.” So if I am microing my scout on my way to his base because I saw some early lings out, I’ll know, without having to look at my money, that I need to throw down the factory.

The scout in this build is usually a secondary consideration, since you’re kind of eyeing it on the minimap, and it’s not too hard assuming he doesn’t have the Jaedong slowling vs worker micro. We know that about 10 seconds after you throw down that Factory, the standard third hatch will go down for Zerg, so we send our SCV to block that hatch. (This time, the logic is working on reverse) Also, a little into the SCV-being-chased-by-lings and Vulture is about a third of the way through the map (halfway on Destination), that is the time to throw down the CC.

As our Vulture gets to his base, we’re looking to start the Control Tower on our Starport, start Ion Thrusters on our Machine Shop, and keep up vulture production. Shortly after, we will be starting the armory. So as I’m microing Vulture, I’m tapping, and in the back of my head, I’m thinking “Control Tower, Vulture speed, Armory” the entire time. If you’ve practiced this build enough times (as I have), you’ll know, during the micro portion, when to make workers, etc. For example, 10 seconds after you throw down the control tower you have to make another Vulture. That’s like unnecessarily precise, but nice to have.

About the time they go for their third hatch and you’re chasing the drone, that’s about when the Control Tower finishes, so look to be starting your dropship. This part is a bit dangerous, since if they suck, you’ll be late, but luckily you have a minimap ping. I typically know when they should go for the third hatch though, since it’s just a little bit after I start my third vulture. As the dropship comes out, and you send it across the map, that’s also roughly second gas time. During the first vulture drop is Academy/Ebay time for me.

This is a very useful technique for me personally - tying in whatever planned micro I have to do with whatever is going on in my build. The reason this additional association works, as opposed to going only by food counts or clock timing, is because I take out the intermediate step of having to consult the clock or the food count. (If I had to pick between the two, I choose the clock) This strategy is also effective in the sense that we can tap a little less, and if depot timings are pre-programmed, that’s very good as well, since they’re a lot less likely to be forgotten. It’s a little dumb to say you’ll plan out every SCV you’ll build, but things like “during this Reaper micro, I get my Reactor on my barracks, start a Factory, and get my CC” as really useful. Because I know what’s going on at home, during the reaper harass, I’ll be looking for any moment I can to jump home and start those buildings. I personally would forget them otherwise, since I just don’t have the focus to micro a reaper, and check my food and realize “oh, at this point, I throw X thing down!” whilst keeping up my worker production. What’s nice about this is that there’s really only 3 things at most that is part of our build at any given point in time that we have to pay attention to.

We may even go as far as to plan the actual input sequence. here’s one for building a depot while microing a reaper..

a-click, move, w, e, a-click, move, [caps lock, c], right click on screen, rr, a-click, move, a-click, slightly longer move command, caps lock caps lock fa click shift+Z right-click, rr a-click, move

Why? Because I know there’s a depot I need to build mid-reaper!

This does not have to be planned before the game as well. Say I am almost through +1 weapons, and I want to start +2 immediately after. At the same time, I am sending like 5-6 hellions into someone’s base, and I want to control them. I also want to mule, but don’t quite have the energy yet. This is assuming I want optimal play, because normally people just delay the upgrades a bit. Let us assume that we HAVE to send the hellions in now, since there are spines on the way, but they’re not quite up yet.

So I will send my hellions in, control with as few clicks as possible, while tapping, and in the back of my head I am thinking “+2, mule, +2, mule” with my eyes on the minimap as much as possible. So then the engagement may go something like this…

rr a-click right click right click a-click wewer a-click right click a-click a-click wffefdfdsggsr a-click w [noticed that +1 finished] space space [cycles to my armories] fff rr a-click right click a-click (wx) d-click d-click rr

Micro sequences with macro in the background occur much better when they are planned. We do NOT have to delve blindly in terms of sequencing and prioritize on the spot, when we can have a somewhat planned sequence that enables us to do both.

And if at any point our build falls apart, we have a framework to fall back on.

Perhaps this was why Brood War pros could literally have the most insane micro while having a perfect build in the beginning…we will see. I will give this some experimentation, after I painstakingly hammer out a build for each matchup on each map…