#may or may not be visible how much ive been playing hades

[amoschaos]

Stylish Yellow

[antiloreolympus]

6 Anti LO Asks

1. i would actually get the idea people look down on the underworld gods bc like yeah theyre scary and unwelcomed, but like its undercut by rachel making them the most desirable and most powerful for?? reasons?? like she wants them to be underdogs while at the same time being the best at everything, which is her issue with persephone too, she also has to be powerless and humble but also the most unique and powerful. she wants us to root for them when they have no actual struggles.

2. i dont take reviews for anything, tbh. the "professional" reviews LO got were all by people who are also at the same printing house, so theyre literally paid to say something nice for marketing even if they dont like it (i work in publishing, we do this all the time), and amazon reviews arent regulated, so of course LO stans will flood it to fluff it up. thats what let's play fans have been doing too for years now too, despite it being wattpad markipiler fanfic.

3. I know comparing characters isn’t right but honestly LO has enough wrong going on I won’t feel bad. Persphone isn’t interesting on her own in LO. A lot of her character is having things happen to her except for flirting with Hades and killing mortals (and maybe running away as a reaction to Zeus). Persphone we are told she is smart, naive, powerful but powerless. Her character literally is whatever RS thinks fits the chapter the best. Persphone has no clear goals other than wanting Hades, what’s her major? What was the next step after college? Do the other gods go to college? Why doesn’t she know what sleeping to the top means but knows so much about flirting with a man who has a gf? What was she suppose to be doing if she never met hades?

Although the other female cast may not be likeable, they do actually do stuff that drives their own character

Minthe may have fallen into a shitty relationship with Hades, but she feels sick about the ring and treats Hades because he doesn’t listen to her. She leads Persphone to the wrong location cause she doesn’t like her. She fights hades (not a good thing but does something to the plot)

Daphne has Persphones background, grew up in the mortal realm. However she’s a lot more interesting. Demeter probably isn’t strict with Daphne, but Daphne is now and influencer with business deals and when forced to Dave Apollo bits and threatens him. And even before with Apollo wanted to find out her own opinions on the guy.

Hecate isn’t a main character but enjoys to be in the plot and leaves the plot as she pleases, she’s support but also seems like there more to her than shown. She likes chaos, gardening, and expanding her knowledge.

Aphrodite, drove the plot with the drugs and car thing, NOT A GOOD THING but actually did something. Was looking for her husband, testing her son may not be the best character but actually leaves marks on the story telling despite not showing up a lot.

Artemis, invites Persphone into her home, has always been this sliver footed hunter, was doing fine before persphone, but also has her own family issues

Demeter fought in a war, has her own morals and ethics when raising a daughter, may have messed up but again actually contributes to the plot

Hera pushes HXP together and apart, has her own interesting drama, seduced Kronos and paid for it gravely, DID have an affair with hades. Not good things but contributions.

Thetis manipulates people

Persphone just doesn’t do much herself in the comic. She didn’t want to go to the party, she didn’t want the job, a lot of the plot is having her having something happen to her. The drugging, the Apollo the offers, Meg offering her clothes even. She doesn’t drive the plot other than flirting with Hades even knowing about Minthe, killing those mortals, and turning Minthe into a plant, but none of those things are even framed as wrong. It’s like even when she does make a “mistake” it doesn’t “count”

4. DID HADES ACTUALLY REALLY HONESTLY SAY ZEUS' RAGE IS MISMANAGED!?!

5. Since we’re talking about self-inserts, hell, I have like 3 characters in my book that can be argued to be my self inserts. But the difference is that while I project onto them plenty, I still remember they are my CHARACTERS, not me. I give them flaws, I write them how I would any other, and I make them suffer consequences when needed. There’s a difference between that and whatever the hell RS is doing with Persephone

-----FP Spoilers-----

6. Not to beat a dead horse but even with Hades saying he misspoke in calling Persephone his wife - considering they arent dating and have only known each other for a short time period, it still sounds weird, right? Like in the newer chapters (I think) Hades and Persephone discuss going on a "first date" after the trial is over which would be fine - except A). It sounds as though even if Persephone gets a punishment (like lets say its a Prometheus treatment kinda thing) that they'll just go behind Zeus' back + authority to go on dates anyway, regardless of punishment or not, and B). Hades calling Persephone his wife indicates that despite not even being on a proper date or even knowing her all that well that he already thinks of her as such, which seems a bit presumptuous considering everything thats been happening.

Also ive seen claims far and between that months have passed if not a year since Persephone went on the run / the beginning of the comic - does anyone have a source for that? (The timeline makes everything confusing).

Also, I was told that the trial doesnt take place in the underworld - that it actually takes place in Olympus?? Anyone got a source? Pls and thanks. 

From OP, not Anon: From the episodes currently on FP, the trial does take place on Olympus. The underworld is in a constant state of darkness and the place where the trial is being held shows it's visibly daytime. Also, it hasn't been months or a time skip. Some people were confused by Hades's wording because he said 'months'. Saying weeks would've been way better and less confusing.

[drmicrochp]

New York, New York

What destination offers the greatest variety of culture and night life, breath-taking views, and culinary delights? Why, New York city, of course. Visiting my own country, the U.S, isn’t the exotic destination that I ordinarily seek when leaving Chile. Yet, New York, this Elysium beyond the clouds, holds the most unique stratum of humanity that I know of. Walking down streets where I feel like an ant, surrounded by the most professional culture of money and the arts, knowing that this is where most of the decisions are made that matter, all of it combines to make me feel insignificant and a privileged visitor.

Victoria, Chile is one of the smallest towns that I know. New York, the largest. I would like to say that I´m at home in either place, but it´s a case of opposites. In New York there are too many choices -where to go, what to do, how to get there. In Victoria, there are too few -all of the restaurants and stores resemble one another in their offerings.

Arriving at JFK airport I was struck at how little attention I attracted from customs, police, and airport security. Customs barely looked at me. Nobody checked what I was carrying. Compare this with Lima, Peru, with its drug sniffing dogs, TSA x-raying my shoes and my crutch, patting me down in an all too familiar way. This time it was as if I was traveling with an express pass.  Joaquin, my son, and Abena, his wife, greeted me at the airport gate and we detoured to the nearest food stop and I had a chance to devour a doughnut. Doughnuts are one of my recurring dreams in Chile because they have none. There are some pasty counterfeits, but the doughnut shops that I remember would take offense at them. I should have bought a dozen.

Brain dead, as I always am, after the marathon which is a trip from Victoria to anywhere out of the country, I was happy just to have Joaquin, my son, and Abena, his wife, help me with my suitcases and show me to my sister's apartment where I would mostly be staying. Traveling from the 40 degree weather of Victoria to the 90 degree weather of New York required a shower and a change of clothes. Soon I was able to clean up enough to accompany my sister, Stephanie, to a performance of interpretative dance by the Mark Morris company and enjoy a modest bowl of chile beans at a diner. Yes, prices have gone up. That bowl of chile cost the same as a full dinner anywhere in Victoria.

Accompanying us to the performance was Christopher Ryan, the author of the divamensch.com blog, who blogs about the arts in New York city. Christopher sees all of the best performances in the city and knows all of the back stories. He and Stephanie shared all of their latest arts gossip. The interpretive dance numbers portrayed everything from a jellyfish capturing its prey to fishing, racing, tennis, and golf. With music of Eric Satie as a backdrop, Morris evoked an imaginative pantomime of different activities using only the dancers' bodies to express abstract impressions. Charles Ives, the composer whose music graced the other pieces was amazing. All of the music was played live and this added a lot to the performance. Some of them left me scratching my head, wondering what I had just seen. After the performance, walking past Rockefeller Center, I mused once again that I had landed in Elysium, a land envisioned by the Greeks as their version of heaven.

On another night, we attended a Yiddish language version of "Fiddler on the Roof" with English and Yiddish subtitles projected on the sides of the stage. Hearing this favorite musical in Yiddish gave me a feeling of authenticity about each of the challenges faced by the small community of a shtetl or village. On another day we visited a small theater in Manhattan to see "The Sword of Trust," a movie with Marc Maron, also enjoyable. Stephanie enjoys small out of the way gems when seeking out experiences in Manhattan, thinking as I do, that the blockbusters will find their way to us, rather than us finding our way to them.

Visiting the "Tenement Museum" in the oldest part of New York with Stephanie was my chance to imagine the inhabitants of old New York. I have been to the museum a few times before to see the actual apartments where early immigrants lived and to hear their stories from guides who had researched the names and histories of the original occupants. Visualizing Jacob Riis´s photographs from "How the Other Half Lives" (1889) and documentation of the "Five Points" neighborhoods from the those times calls up my imagination of how it might have been. I urge you to visit this museum if you ever have the chance.

Another item on my checklist was to find a Mexican restaurant and we visited three of them. One of them was a fancy boutique restaurant where everything was on the menu, but nothing seemed authentic. Growing up in Stockton, California where there are dozens of Mexican restaurants, has set the bar rather high for me, but (like my love of doughnuts) my memories persist. A second restaurant had spectacular burritos, but only burritos. On our third try, we found an authentic place and I realized the unique flavor of the sauces and spices that make up Mexican food. Our culinary demands come with other difficult conditions. Stephanie has high expectations for any dish, while David and I are vegetarians. I was willing to abandon the vegetarian preference on this occasion if it mattered. Finding cheese enchiladas or chile rellenos to my liking is a tall order. My dad, John Jutt (deceased) was the same way with his Chile Verde. In Victoria I can recreate burritos, cheese enchiladas, nachos and Mexican salsa with chips to my liking, helped by an excellent Chilean artisanal lager, but now I have come to a new conclusion. Don´t leave the American southwest if you love American-style Mexican food.

David, my brother, was also a generous host. On one night we enjoyed a Korean restaurant and on another a gourmet vegetarian restaurant. Spicy Korean noodles check all of my boxes, but not knowing much about Korean cuisine is a disadvantage for me. Korean barbecue is all the rave, but I will probably never try it. The gourmet vegetarian restaurant was an eye opener. They had recreated many fancy French dishes using only vegetarian ingredients. Faux steak, faux chicken, and even faux foie gras, had us all stumped as to how they evoked these flavors. It was a memorable meal showing how far this cuisine had evolved. David has not yet tried an "impossible burger," which I have heard so much about, but promised to try one. I think that always trying to mimic the flavor of meat is somewhat of a fool´s errand. Once you have tried an Argentine steak house you will know what I mean. Or maybe if you have tried soy bacon. Good luck.

David, his wife, Susan, and his son, Alexander,  are members of the Scarsdale community, north of NY city. David teaches choir and music at a nearby high school named "New Rochelle." If you're looking for the perfect place to retire in the New York area, Scarsdale is a safe bet. The location is so middle class, staid, and quiet that it is typecast as the model community and the butt of a few jokes. Being accepted into the "condominium cooperative" that is the organization of these tall apartment buildings is the hallmark of stability.

Another artist in the family living in New York (if my wife´s extended family may be included) is Nelson Andres Rivas, a.k.a. Cekis, who brought his former wife, Karen, and his daughter, Maya, to lunch at Stephanie´s building. Karen found some Chilean-style empanadas from a bakery and Stephanie made a salad and we all had libations. My favorite was the Negroni (equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari), Stephanie´s was the Aperol Spritz and everyone else enjoyed Pisco Sours in honor of Chile. From the rooftop where we dined a magnificent skyline could be viewed. The Dakota hotel, where John Lennon died, is visible from one side. Some construction cranes atop the buildings were visible. Some buildings we could not identify, such as crystalline, insectoid structures. Cocoons waiting to be born.

The centerpiece of my "only in New York" visit would probably have been the "Diner en Blanc," a dinner where hundreds of exclusive ticket holders converge upon a secret location where they enjoy musical performances and they, themselves, are also a spectacle. Stephanie, my niece Francesca and her husband, Brian were the members of our little band. I had to find all white attire, not something I ordinarily enjoy in Victoria, Chile. Some party goers bring their preparation to perfection with all white tuxedos and ladies wearing all white formal gowns. Also, the tables are magnificent presentations, with branches, candles, lights, flowers, and chuppahs or canopies marking them. Everything was perfection. On stage a crooner, perhaps a Frank Sinatra double, sang "New York, New York" as everyone stood and danced. Just as he finished the song, with everyone singing along, a thunderous typhoon struck with raindrops coming down in buckets and thirty mile per hour winds. Everyone was drenched in an instant. Our preparations for the event were rather meager in comparison with the exaggerated chuppahs, silver dining ware with warming trays and other gourmet dinners surrounding us, but it was all for the better. Blinded by the rain and frozen by the winds, we were able to tear down and hustle out of there fairly quickly. It resembled a scene of "The Titanic" with everyone scrambling to leave. I, with my one crutch, found special reserves of energy to assist with the evacuation. The metaphor was clear. Elysium is a fragile construct, easily replaced by Hades, given a catastrophe. New Yorkers know this better than anyone.

One last additional enjoyable part of my visit was staying with my Joaquin, who has the best (or worst) location for an apartment in New York, a bohemian enclave located on Saint Mark´s Place in the East Village. Sort of a birdcage, Joaquin´s apartment has a shelf-like layout on the fifth floor of an ancient building with space for a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and studio for his artwork. Just he and his wife, Abena, a singer, live in the heart of it all, in an area some refer to as America’s hippest street. Not too hip if you´re trying to get some sleep, but iconic nonetheless. Our first night out, programmed for a live concert in Brooklyn, I had to figure out how to navigate the subway on my own using an alternate route, this portion of the subway having shut down due to technical problems. Google maps and improvisation got me there, but not in time to see the concert. It ended just as I got there, but the whole spectacle had a weird psychedelic feel, seeing all of these concertgoers and having just ingested one of New York´s special cocktails, a "Nutcracker." This fruit flavored bombshell is sold out of portable ice chests by entrepreneurial hipsters for $15 a bottle, guaranteed to get your head straight. I loved all of the after concert banter with Jamaicans, Namibians, and Nigerians hanging out at the park, telling their stories. The concert must have been something else. Too bad that I missed it. Joaquin has found a niche as an artist and illustrator for the African American renaissance in New York and has introduced me to a number of their vanguard, such as Wangechi Mutu, a highly regarded Kenyan artist living in New York. Such an interesting life. Livin' the dream. My second night with Joaquin we went to a concert at the Nu Blue. At this venue, all of the performances were live and spontaneous. All of the freestyling rap and incredible jazz that I heard was inspired in the moment with people coming up on the stage and adding to the mix. I even made it down to the floor and busted a few moves myself. Intoxicated dancing I find to be the truest expression of my inner self. Just kidding.

Every time I look out of the main window in Stephanie´s apartment, with its incredible skyline of Manhattan, I can hear George Gershwin´s "Rhapsody in Blue." I began my vacation there and finished it there, like bookends. So many different pieces of the collage that come together in that city. How so much of my family started in Stockton, California and ended up there, I can hardly fathom. Such a glorious place to visit and how wonderful to see so much of my family there. We still belong to California in a way and now my roots are in Chile, but New York is a place where we have also found a connection, a place where dreams have no limits.

#fatcity #fatcityrefugee #newyork #expat #expatlife