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joon-ipersgirl · 4 years ago

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O5 - “airplane pt. 2″

genre: strangers to lovers!au, angst, fluff

pairing: jimin x reader (f)

summary: they say home is where the heart is. you’re convinced yours was taken the day your father died. until you meet jimin.

you believe in love but after watching men cycle through your mother’s arms, rocky relations with ex-boyfriends, and broken friendships, you no longer see it in your future. so much so, you never settle in one place long enough to call it home, choosing a job where you’re always on the go and on your own.

on a chance encounter on a flight from new york city to bali, indonesia, you meet. flustered by jimin’s flirty advances but understanding and good-natured tendencies, you start to fall. what starts off as a work-trip soon blossoms into a budding romance, but will jimin’s secret destroy the relationship before it’s had the chance to truly begin?

word count: 5.4k

warnings: cursing, mentions of anxiety, talks of heartbreak

a/n: i thought i should post this while i had the motivation lol. this has a lot of background for their past relationships with a lil twist so i hope you enjoy it. this is the last part i have completed so updates for this story might be a while but winter break is coming up so i should have more time. i just really want to do the next part justice you know? anywhoo. as always, thank you vi for reading this beforehand and pls leave any comments and thoughts in an ask. i’m curious to the reactions of jimin’s relationship history. enjoy everyone and think you for reading!

full masterlist // series masterlist // previous // next

There were no thoughts of Tiago when you woke up that morning. Your cheek was pressed against Jimin’s back as your arm was draped over his upper body and your leg slung over his lower back. His breathing was deep and even as he slept peacefully beside you. You realized you’d technically only taken a nap as no sunlight peeked under the curtain, only the artificial lights from the street signs gently illuminating the room.

The events of last night came rushing back to you and you pulled away from Jimin, surprised at just how bold you’d become.You’d truly felt comfortable enough to share a deep part of your life story with a man that you’d known for two days. A man that you had a crush on. A man that had almost kissed you in the middle of a dive bar in the middle of Hong Kong. Jimin was encroaching on dangerous territory.

A ping! came through on your phone which you realized was across the room with the rest of your things. You groaned at the thought of having to leave the comfortable confines of the bed. Another loud ping! dragged you from the warmth of the sheets, choosing to crawl over Jimin’s legs instead of his lap, remembering the previous morning’s antics. Checking your phone, you saw three unread messages from Michael.

Michael: Good afternoon Y/N! Have you any word on when you’ll arrive in Bali? [1:09]

Michael: So I haven’t received a call or text from you. I assume everything is fine, or Park Jimin has killed you. I hope it’s the former [4:17]

Michael: So clearly he’s killed you. I’ll be sending his name and social security number off to the authorities [4:19]

You snorted at Michael’s messages as you inched your way back into your spot though Jimin had claimed the majority of your space in his sleep. He didn’t stir as you slipped under the covers, but rested his head against your chest as you laid on your back; you didn’t have the heart to move him as you responded to Michael.

You don’t have his social security number Michael. I’m fine. We just had a long night. And our flight is leaving some time this afternoon. I’ll get the details from Jimin and send them to you

[4:22]

Michael: You don’t know that. And a long night? Y/N, don’t tell me you were in the arms of this man when you’ve only known him for at most 2 days [4:24]

So what if I was? You’ve definitely done worse

[4:25]

Michael: You’re right. But this is one of the areas where I don’t lead by example. Please tell me you used protection at least [4:26]

Gross, Michael. Nothing happened. We just went to the museum (I saw Garland Sans) and then went for dinner and some drinks

[4:27]

Michael: A museum, dinner, AND drinks? In ONE night? Sounds like a date. A classy one at that since you said there was no fucking [4:29]

Michael: AND YOU SAW GARLAND SANS WITHOUT ME?! WITH HIM?! HOW DARE YOU! [4:30]

You’re honestly so crude. There was no fucking. It was just a casual hangout, nothing crazy. Also, I didn’t know his work was going to be there. I don’t think it’ll be the same exhibit in New York so we’re fine

[4:33]

Michael: A casual hangout where you forget to text me back? I beg to differ. Spill [4:34]

You chewed on your lip as you stared at Michael’s message. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to tell him what happened; Michael was more than just a manager, he was also like a best friend. The problem was you didn’t really know how to describe last night. You barely understood what had transpired yourself. Throwing caution to the wind, you laid out all the details of the previous night.

Michael: … [4:53]

Michael: Y/N, this man did NOT wine and dine you and you left him hanging out to dry! Have I taught you nothing? [4:54]

Michael: I just - I cannot believe you got lucky like this. Well, not that kind of lucky. Either way, he didn’t actually kiss you so maybe he deserved that. An art curator at that. And he lives in NYC? You really are living in the moment. I’m so happy to hear after that S.O.B. [4:55]

Michael: Wait, does this mean you’re in bed together now?! [4:55]

It wasn’t that type of night! Like you said, I’ve known him for TWO DAYS. We can’t just have sex. And

I guess so; Tiago hasn’t been on my mind as much lately. Yes, Michael. We’re currently still in bed. Jimin’s sleeping

[4:58]

Michael: It’s the 21st century, Y/N. Live a little. You’re a modern-day woman. It’s been a year and a half love, I would hope he wasn’t. Not when you have a man that sounds like he’s sex on legs wrapped around your finger. [5:01]

Michael: Please send a pic. Thanks! [5:02]

He is not wrapped around my finger! And I’m definitely not just going to send you a picture of him sleeping! That’s weird!

[5:05]

Michael: Booo! This would be for the authorities Y/N. Think about your safety [5:07]

I am. So safe from you and your antics when I’m on the other side of the world. I’m going to shower, I’ll text you later

[5:09]

Michael: Oh you’re a dirty girl! Ask Jimin to join you. Remember to text me the flight details [5:12]

You chuckled at Michael’s attempt to make you uncomfortable. There was no way in hell you would do that. Jimin wasn’t wrong when he said you could barely look at him with clothes on and you blushed as the increasingly inappropriate thoughts tried to break through the barrier of unconsciousness and consciousness. You felt Jimin tug you closer as you tried to slip out of his grip again.

“Where are you going?” he mumbled, still half asleep.

“To go take a shower,” you said while trying to push him off you.

“No,” he whined. “Don’t leave me.” He snuggled closer and you laughed.

“Let go, Jimin. I smell gross; I’m basically leaking alcohol from my pores at this point.”

“I don’t care. You’re warm and I want to sleep more.”

“You can still sleep while I go and shower.” You pinched his side and he jerked away from you. His glare was comical as he struggled to locate you with sleep-heavy eyes. “So you’re ticklish? Good to know.”

“You’re mean,” he pouted as he rolled over onto his stomach after you’d successfully vacated the bed. “And it’s early as fuck. Wake me up when it’s a reasonable hour to be a human being.”

“You don’t even know what time it is,” you mumbled as you closed the door on any reply Jimin could make.

You welcomed the sting of the hot water against your shoulders, soothing the knots in the back of your neck. Letting the water run through your hair, you smoothed it out of your face. Massaging your scalp was therapeutic nowadays, especially since it was so much shorter. You hadn’t grown it out in a year and a half, now enjoying the short dry time and the new woman you were; Tiago would have hated it. You sighed as he resurfaced and you washed him away again with the simple smelling body wash. By the time you were dressed in your last clean emergency clothing, your hair was already drying.

The smell of coffee welcomed you as you sat down to add the final touches to your Saipan video. It wasn’t hard to get lost in editing, your brain working overtime to adjust the exposure of the film, fade out the titles, and sync up the music. You relished the peacefulness of the early morning quiet, your life seeming to return to its normal rhythm even if just for a few moments. Your moleskine journal with edited itinerary notes sat next to the steaming second cup of black coffee just as the breakfast rush started to roll in and along with them an extremely flustered Jimin.

“Y/N!” he crashed into the seat opposite you. “I thought you left!” His backpack sat beside yours on the floor as you stared at him confused.

“Where could I have possibly gone, Jimin?”

“I don’t know. You weren’t there when I woke up and neither was your stuff. I thought I overstepped last night and made you uncomfortable,” he said. Droplets of water fell from his hair and onto his white t-shirt. Your face softened.

“I needed some coffee. And to get some work done. You really thought I would have left you?” you asked curiously.

He shrugged and pushed his hand through his damp hair. “What reason would you have to stay?”

You opened your mouth and closed it. Jimin was right. You didn’t have to stay. It was possible that you could have just gone to the airport, given them your name, and be set - though that would have made for an awkward conversation whenever Jimin arrived as your seats were next to one another. You watched him head over to grab some food, greeting Sonia in passing, as he piled his plate high. He returned shortly after with Sonia and handed you a plate of fruit.

“She says you’ve been down here for hours and haven’t touched a thing; you need to eat. And she wanted to know if you enjoyed yesterday.” Sonia stood at the end of the table expectantly.

“It was really great. The museum was incredible. I really can’t thank you enough. And Jimin was a great tour guide. Did she see the pictures?” Jimin shook his head, his mouth stuffed with food as usual, before he thumbed the polaroids out of his wallet. Sonia cooed and the two of them chatted again, a slight blush overtaking the tips of Jimin’s ears.

“She said you look really beautiful and she’s happy you enjoyed yourself so much.” You thanked her as you chewed on a grape, wondering what else Jimin had left out of his translation. Too much was said for it to be condensed into a two-part sentence.

“What time is our flight leaving, Jimin? Michael wants me to send him the details.”

“So flight leaves at 1:40 pm and we board at 1:10 ish -“

“Holy fuck Jimin!” You slammed your laptop shut. “It’s 12:17! We have to go. Now. Fuck!” You shoved your journal into your backpack, the chair almost tipping back as you shot up from your seat. It took a few seconds for Jimin to realize just how far away from the airport you were before he too was out of his chair and shoving the last piece of pastry into his mouth. Sonia looked alarmed as you tried to return your dirty dishes until Jimin explained and she grabbed the plates out of your hands and yelled for William.

You bounced your leg as you watched William weave through the midday traffic. The leather of the seat bench stuck to the underside of your thighs. Lunch hour traffic in Hong Kong was just as bad as in New York and you willed yourself to remain calm as you cruised down the highway. The wind roared through the open windows and whipped your hair around your face. It was torture leaving the fate of your on-time arrival in the hands of a man you had literally met yesterday in a pickup truck that you were sure was a few years older than you. You envied Jimin’s ability to look peacefully out of the window at the bustling city while the coil of nerves bundled tight in your belly rolling like the waves of the deep sea.

Michael had not texted you back and you worried that somehow your phone service had been cut off again. An irrational thought because it was nearing 1 am in New York, but your brain had seemed to have left rationale back with Sonia. The comfort that your early morning wake up had given you in addition to the previous night’s adventures had been ripped away from you. It was no longer only you and Jimin in the back seat; anxiety had squeezed in beside you. Tears pricked your eyes in frustration as you prayed you wouldn’t have another delay in finally getting to Bali.

“Don’t worry, Shutterfly. We’re going to make it. You’re not missing this flight. I promise,” Jimin said to you as William followed the signs for the departure terminal. You could barely offer him a smile as the looming structure that was Hong Kong International Airport grew closer.

William pulled his truck over to the sidewalk between a Kia and a Buick, the vehicle looking extremely ancient compared to the other two. “Have a safe flight. And Sonia expects to see you both again soon okay?” William declared. Jimin hopped down and turned to help you out of the truck.

“We’ll do our best,” Jimin muttered, glancing at you. “Thank you for everything, William. I’ll let you know when we land.”

“Thank you, William. It really meant a lot, you taking me in and stuff,” you added and he gave your shoulder a squeeze through the open window as Jimin shut the door.

“You two should hurry. Go,” he shooed you towards the terminal doors. Jimin said goodbye once more and then was pulling you through the automatic doors.

The two of you breezed through the other passengers checking their luggage as you used the machine kiosks bypassing any potential cheery airline workers. Jimin trailed behind you as you zipped through the slow-moving passengers, your eyes focused on the glass doors leading towards the security checkpoint.

“Hey! Slow down, Shutterfly. We’re going to make it, even if we have to run,” Jimin said as he picked up his pace to catch up with you. You did not want to have to run. You had never run for a flight in your entire life and you did not want to start now. You bounced from side to side as you moved painstakingly slow towards the immigration officer perched on her high chair. It was already 1 pm, but no one else seemed concerned, probably actually on time for their flight. You rolled your shoulders, trying to loosen the tension nestled between them.

“It’s okay, Y/N. It’s okay.” Jimin slipped his hand under your hair, his thumb rubbing gentle circles between the base of your neck and shoulders. You sighed and removed his hand, turning to face him.

“It’s not okay, Jimin. I don’t even know if they have my bag,” you huffed. You stepped forward to hand your passport and boarding pass to the officer.

“I’m sure they do, darling. As long as you have your -”

“I remember what you said about the tag, Jimin. That doesn’t change the fact that I could land in Bali without my bag. I don’t even have enough time to ask someone about it,” you snapped while placing your camera bags into the grey bins, your shoes following after. Jimin said nothing further as he emptied his own backpack, the book he had been reading more dog-eared than when you first saw it along with a leatherbound book.

Just as you were passing through the body scanner, an announcement blared through the terminal. “This is the last boarding call for passengers Park Jimin and Y/N Y/LN on flight 7860 with services to Bali, Indonesia at Gate C9. Again, would passengers Park Jimin and Y/N Y/L/N please report to Gate C9 for flight 7860 to Bali, Indonesia? Thank you.”

“Shit,” you exclaimed, shoving your hands through your hair as another TSA officer looked over your scan. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!”

“Alright, you’re good.” You didn’t wait for the last word to spill from his mouth before you were back in front of the conveyor belt waiting for your stuff to pass through its own scanner. Quickly and as carefully as you could, you zipped your cameras back up and tucked them into your backpack. Your hands were shaking.

“Don’t worry, Y/N! I got you!” Jimin called out as he moved around you. He was already packed up and taking off by the time you’d secured your things. You stared in disbelief as you watched him run through the departure terminal, not caring how many people stared at him. It looked like you would be doing the same.

You chased after him, clutching your passport and phone in your hand, chest heaving as you watched Jimin’s head disappear further into the crowd. Fuck, he was fast. You dodged the small children that waddled along with their parents and the elderly couples that squinted up at the screens to find their correct gates. Your legs burned as you pushed through the pain, the hallways of the airport being much longer than you remembered. You couldn’t afford to miss this flight.

Rounding the corner to gate C9, the seats were empty. The rest of the passengers had already boarded the plane. A few of the airline employees milled around getting ready to close the gate. One was arguing with Jimin who refused to walk through the doors so they couldn’t close it.

“Look! There she is. I told you!” Jimin was standing in the doorway leading down the aircraft gangway, blocking the airline employees from closing the door. They looked highly irritated.

“Miss Y/L/N?”

“Yes, that’s me. I’m so sorry!” you apologized while handing over your boarding pass for it to be scanned. Your face felt hot from all the attention but you pushed it down. There was nothing else to worry about.

“Have a safe flight,” the employee mumbled as he handed you back the pass. You smiled, relieved.

Jimin grinned at you as he jogged towards the plane, his hair bouncing with every step. “I told you we wouldn’t miss the flight, Shutterfly.”

Ignoring all the nasty looks you received as you walked down the aisle of the plane, you and Jimin flopped down into your respective seats, tired from your sprint to the gate. The usual airplane routine started up as the plane left the gate and you relaxed in your seat as you watched the tarmac roll by through the window. Running was not your forte and you wondered if you should have considered Michael’s offer to be his plus one at Planet Fitness more seriously. You could feel the sweat bead around your hairline. A shower would be great once you reached your accommodations. You sat up abruptly.

“Fuck,” you whispered, grabbing your phone.

“What’s wrong?” Jimin asked, fastening his seatbelt.

Scrolling through your numerous email notifications, you saw the one you were praying wouldn’t be there. Airbnb reservation canceled in the subject line. Fuck.

“Ma’am, could you please turn off your cell phone or switch it to airplane mode? The plane is getting ready for departure,” a stewardess chided you. You nodded and tucked it back into your pocket, dazed. In 5 hours and 5 minutes, you would be landing in Ngurah Rai International Airport with nowhere to stay for 9 days. Shit.

“You’re chewing your lip again.”

“Huh?” You looked over at Jimin who was still reading The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, his body feigning disinterest but you knew he was paying attention to you.

“You were chewing your lip. It’s your tell-tale sign that something’s wrong,” he replied as he turned the page. You opened your mouth to protest but closed it quickly. He was right.

“How did you know though?” you asked, tucking your hair behind your ear, now extremely conscious that he had been observing you.

“What are you worrying about? Your project? Y/N, it’s going to be amazing. This is what you love doing, right? You can do it,” Jimin encouraged, bookmarking his page and looking at you.

“I don’t know, Jimin. A romantic getaway? That displays passion and love? Those are things I haven’t felt in a very long time,” you noted. The memories of Tiago swirled at the corners of youe mind and you sighed in frustration that you thought about him again.

“Bullshit,” he said. Jimin tucked his book into the seatback pocket in front of him. “Love doesn’t have to only be romantic, Y/N. There are so many incredible forms of love out there. The love people have for their families, for their jobs, for their - I don’t know - neighbors they only see on Sundays because they do laundry at the same time. We love just because. There really doesn’t have to be a reason,” he finished. You stared at him. His brown eyes were bright with passion and his face was set in determination to convince you what he was saying was true. You were amazed at his belief in his own words.

“Do you think you could say that again? On film, though.” He laughed at you as you went to pull out your camera but he stopped you.

“I keep telling you, Y/N. If you want me to be your muse, all you have to do is ask,” he said with a smirk. You rolled your eyes as you rested the camera in your lap. “But if you really do want my help, I’ll be happy to work with you on your project.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded and smiled. “Seriously. This is important to you. I want to help.”

You tried to hide your smile. Though it was something simple, Jimin supporting your craft was something you hadn’t experienced in years. People didn’t believe in the arts as much as they liked to consume it. “Thank you, Jimin. That really means a lot to me.”

“Remember I told you I’d show you what love is? This is a great way to do it.” Jimin grinned as you laughed at him.

“And what do you know about love, Mr. Park?” you asked jokingly. Jimin averted his eyes, his smile less vibrant than before.

“You’d be surprised,” he said with a shrug.

“More lessons from Mr. Park Sr.?” you joked again, poking his shoulder, trying to lighten his sudden change of mood. He chuckled lowly.

“Some. A lot I learned on my own.”

“A lot? What’s your favorite one?” you posed. You were intrigued about a Jimin who had seen these many sides of love. Who was he beforehand? How had he changed? “Have you ever had your heart broken?”

“Yep,” he said, popping the ‘p’. “A few times. I guess you could say the last one was the worst,” he commented.

“Would you like to share?” you asked gently, not wanting to overstep your boundaries.

“I can. Especially if it’ll help you believe in love.” He wiggled his eyebrows and you shoved his shoulder gently. “I assume you’ve also had your heart broken?” You nodded. “Hmm. Well, Shutterfly. Sit back, relax, and let me tell you the story of Alexandria.” Jimin eased his seat back and turned his head to face you, his fingers laced and resting in his lap. He looked as though he was in a therapist’s office to talk about his trauma and the feelings associated with them. Depending on the nature of the story, he might need to go and see one.

“Lexa and I met during my Freshman year of college. She was tall, slim figure, very ‘plain Jane’ except for her copper-colored hair. She was really a brunette, but in certain lighting, it looked red. Then she started toning it - it doesn’t matter. Anyway, I was hanging out with a bunch of friends in the library studying for this major test when she walked by and that was it; I was a goner. We ended up having a class together the following semester where I found out she was a Sophomore -”

“Ooh! An older woman?!” You perked up in your chair at the new detail. “I never would have -”

“Pegged me for the type? We’re back on that, Y/N?” he asked with a wry grin. You blushed at the memory and sank back down.

“Continue,” you whispered sheepishly.

“So she was a Sophomore studying Psychology with a minor in Creative Writing. She was a force to be reckoned with and I thought I had no chance with her until she asked me to hang out. I honestly couldn’t believe she was interested in me. We didn’t start dating until my Junior year of college, both of us traveling abroad the previous year, and we were really happy together.” Jimin smiled fondly as he recalled the memories and your heart fluttered in anticipation of what went wrong. “I proposed at my graduation while she was -”

“Excuse me? What?!” you exclaimed, staring at him in shock. “You proposed?!” He laughed at your reaction.

“Of course. I loved her and it was the right thing for me to do at the time,” he replied. That couldn’t be it.

“You got her pregnant, didn’t you?” He laughed again, this one vibrating through his entire body as he clutched his stomach; he didn’t seem concerned about the noise level.

“No, Y/N. I proposed because I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.”

“Wow,” you breathed, amazed at his level of commitment at such a young age. To know who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with and be ready to take that risk? He had to be crazy. “Wait. How old are you?”

“I’m 26. This happened around 2 and a half years ago, I think. Well, it’s been 2 and a half years since she called off our engagement,” he added matter-of-factly.

“Fuck,” you grimaced. “What happened?”

“She fell out of love. She wasn’t there when I woke up the following morning - we had moved in together while she worked on her thesis and I started grad school. The ring was placed on a neatly written note and all of her things were gone. Said she needed a man that had a little more - she ‘couldn’t put her finger on it’. Less stoic, more spontaneous. Something like that.” Jimin shrugged, the smile no longer reaching his eyes.

“But she knew how you were when you first got together. That’s some bullshit,” you muttered. Anger flared deep in your gut as you thought about this Alexandria stealing away in the middle of the night leaving Jimin alone to deal with the consequences of her actions as the sun rose.

“No need to crucify her, Shutterfly. She made the best choice for her -”

“But she hurt you,” you interrupted, frowning.

“I don’t disagree, but she taught me my favorite lesson: love freely and without expectations. I lost myself trying to prove that I could be this manly man. That I was man enough to deserve a woman as incredible as her. I lost her because of impossible expectations I placed on myself. We were both at fault; she could have said something sooner. I just wrestle with my own transgressions more. At the end of the day, it made me a better man.”

Love freely and without expectations. How could he say that when the woman who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with left him? Alexandria was foolish to leave someone as admirable as Jimin behind. Your heart ached at him waking up and her no longer being there, having to read that she no longer wanted him. You guessed some explanation was better than having the door closed right in your face.

“And you survived all of this?”

“I’m here, aren’t I? Broken hearts aren’t as bad as they seem, Shutterfly.”

“To you, Jimin. Though I don’t know how you got through that,” you said shaking your head in disbelief.

“The same way you got through yours,” he replied seriously. “Tell me about him. Why don’t you believe in love anymore?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe in love anymore. I just don’t expect it to happen to me for a very long time,” you said pushing your hands through your hair. Jimin waited for you to continue expectantly. You sighed and threw your head back against the seat. “Alright, fine. His name was Tiago. I met him when I moved to California with my best friend. He was a TA in one of her classes and she introduced us. He was tall, Hispanic, with the tight ringlet curls. They were sun-bleached because he spent so much time at the beach. He had the most beautiful hazel eyes too,” you added. You don’t think there was a woman alive who could deny how attractive Tiago was.

“He was smart too, attending law school - Gould School of Law at USC to be exact. I was working as a photography assistant in a studio downtown and he seemed interested in my work. We started hanging out and after a few months, we started dating. Things were really good for a while. I thought I had found my home in him, especially after leaving Milo back in New York. I thought he understood what I was going through. He didn’t.” You closed your eyes as you breathed through the memory of the pain.

“After a year of good times, things started to get weird. Some random phone calls he started taking in other rooms, less planned dates, less attention overall. I ignored it, especially after we had a conversation about possibly moving in together. That was a little too far for me so I was thinking of giving him a key to my apartment - I had gotten a promotion at the studio I was working at and could finally afford my own place,” you said with a grin. “I went to his apartment with the key in a little box and when I knocked on the door, a woman answered.”

“Shit,” Jimin whispered. He rested his hand on your knee and you looked at him with a small smile.

“Yeah. She asked who I was - if she could help me, and before I could answer, Tiago appeared looking fresh out the shower and said I wasn’t ‘anyone important. Just a friend of a friend’s who was supposed to take their anniversary portraits’ and closed the -”

“What the fuck, Y/N?! Please don’t tell me that he closed the door in your face.” Jimin’s grip tightened as his jaw clenched. You nodded with another small smile. “That fucking asshole!” he roared. The lady in front of you turned to hush him. He ignored her.

“Mhm, he closed the door in my face. I think I stood there for 2 minutes before I called an Uber and headed home. A few days later, he texted me and told me that we couldn’t be together anymore - like no shit, dumbass. I found out through the grapevine that she had been his girlfriend for 2 and a half years on and off. They were very much on when we were dating. Remember that friend I told you I moved to Cali with? Apparently she knew but didn’t know how to break it to me. I packed up and moved to San Diego which is where I met Michael. He had seen some of my short films from a little exhibit we had on campus and thought he could help me get more work. That was a year and a half ago,” you finished.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry. He was a fucking dickhead to do that to you.” You waved Jimin off.

“Michael says the same thing - actually he calls him a son of a bitch. It’s fine though. But that’s the story. I’m still healing and building up trust with people. So I believe in love, I’ve just had some bad luck with it,” you said with a shrug. “I try not to dwell on it because -”

“It makes you anxious?” Jimin suggested. You gave him a tight lipped smile. His thumb stroked over your knee in soft brushes. “Well, we won’t talk about him then. Fuck him,” he grinned.

“Thanks, Jimin,” I laughed.

“And we’ll get this project done, yeah? Together?”

You looked at Jimin. He was smiling at you, his front tooth a little crooked but gleaming nonetheless. Tiny dimples appeared around the corners of his mouth - something you hadn’t noticed before. The little sun you had been in while in Hong Kong had started to turn his skin a caramel brown and you remembered the smoothness of his skin as you laid in bed. As the corners of his eyes wrinkled with warm affection and you smiled.

“Together.”

full masterlist // series masterlist // previous // next

joon-ipersgirl, 2020

#jimin fanfic #jimin x reader #bts fanfiction #jimin fluff #bts fanfic #fic: bitter and beloved

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thewakingcloak · 5 years ago

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ProtoDungeon: Episode II

(Quasi)Daily Updates Thus Far

Hey all!

ProtoDungeon Episode II (TWC prequel) is coming along nicely, and I’m building out a lot of vital systems for it, future episodes, and The Waking Cloak. I also began a sort-of-daily update on the Discord server that I’ve been meaning to post here but keep forgetting to because I am a scattered, scattered person.

Anyway, uh, yeah, there are a lot of these, lol. I’ll try to post these more regularly in the future, but I hope this is fun and informative for those of you who like reading weirdly specific details about gamedev.

Daily Update - May 24, 2019

Summing up what I've already done before today: -Ring mechanics are done -Day, night, and light sensors are done (though don't have any art) -Created an object that will switch day/night

Today: - Reworking my "interaction" code so that you stop walking after interacting with something during the walk state.

Daily Update - May 25, 2019 -Finally resolved the "interact" code by adding a new player state. Now the player actually stops when interacting with objects instead of just walking into them the whole time. -Fixed a small bug where dialogue boxes would show up with the first message already "fast-forwarded" to the end with no sound. -Started working on polishing up the day/night switcher object (this is what the interact code was for). Should be important in this dungeon since the player won't have the cloak!

Daily Update - May 26, 2019 -I tend to take Sundays easy. I worked on a bed sprite for like ten minutes though!

Daily Update - May 27, 2019 -Added the ring and its upgrades to the test room! We're now technically ready for super early patron alpha testing, which I'll put up sometime in the secret patron channel in the next few days!

Daily Update - May 28, 2019 -Set up the Itch build for pre-alpha patron testing -Worked on figuring out how to clarify the day/night and ring mechanics, visually -Began sketching out dungeon layout, now that I have mechanics set (as opposed to Episode I where I had to retrofit my design a few times after it was mostly done).

Daily Update - May 30, 2019 -Finished the rough draft of the dungeon layout!!!

Daily Update - May 31, 2019 -Finished the second draft of the dungeon map, including several more detailed rooms with puzzle designs

Daily Update - June 1, 2019 - Finished the THIRD draft of the dungeon map, think I've finally got the layout and puzzle locations pretty much settled (it's been a toughie with day/night/dayshift/nightshift)

Daily Update - June 3, 2019 -Updated level 2 of the Ring of Starlight to generate two blocks instead of one block with a dayshift/nightshift effect. This is like what was originally level 3, except the blocks will move in sync with each other -Changed the ring upgrade descriptions. I'm going to try for a more lore-based, somewhat poetic approach for these over a mechanical explanation. (Level 3 is obviously a temporary description) -Pushed the build up to Itch as v0.3.0

For those of you who have access to the pre-alpha and are using the Itch client, updating should be very easy! However, since something got renamed somewhere along the line, you will most likely have to remove the previous version of the game if you don't want it to ask you to select your version when launching the game. I don't think this will happen again... probably. :) I'm still working on the level 3 mechanic, also.

Daily Update - June 5, 2019 -Decided on new lvl3 of the ring -Fixed blocks so they now fall into pits. Long live the king. -Updated Itch app to v0.3.1

Daily Update - June 7, 2019 -Added level 3 of the ring. -Fixed a bug where pushable blocks couldn't be pushed. You had one job, pushable blocks. -Fixed a bug where the player wouldn't fall into a pit after swapping with something that's over the pit. -Fixed a bug where the synced level 2 ring block would not collide with objects when starting from "rest".

Daily Update - June 8, 2019 -Fixed bug where the dialogue box would crash sometimes. I fixed this bug before. I don't know why it came back. The code I used to fix it was gone. Will keep an eye on this code to see if it disappears again. -Updated HUD to display ring and ring level instead of scroll and swap spell level. -Fixed the controls. Space was mapped to both item "A" and item "B", and apparently it doesn't work that way when the item isn't mapped to both slots :P -Fixed a bug where the game would be very, very tiny if it was not in focus when starting in fullscreen mode. I commented out a line of code when updating the application surface resizing and forgot to uncomment it. -Updated v0.3.9 to Itch -Started work on the next draft of the dungeon sketch now that the ring mechanic has been finalized wooooo

Daily Update - June 12, 2019 -Competed new draft of the dungeon, pretty happy with this one. I'll just need to work in the puzzles and make sure the dungeon graph (a la GMTK Boss Keys) works out so players can't get stuck. -Fixed an issue where you could push blocks past the edge of the screen (and a related one where when you tried to do that, you would keep moving through the block while the block stayed still). -Fixed an issue where you could create blocks on top of each other.

Daily Update - June 14, 2019 -Started working on Tiled draft of dungeon -Began experimenting with larger default room sizes. One aspect I liked from Blossom Tales. Still keeping rooms, of course, since that's what counterintuitively makes an overworld feel big, but bumping up their width/height by about 50% each makes them feel that much larger and explorationy. -Updated test room to new room size. -Uploaded v0.3.12 to Itch, which includes the new room size, as well as the fixed bugs from the June 12 daily update

Daily Update - June 16, 2019 -Continued working on Tiled draft of dungeon. Slow work at this stage, but I believe the overall layout is complete. -Started laying out my sticky note version of the dungeon and puzzles. Lots has changed since last time I built puzzles for this dungeon, so reworking it has been fun.

Trying to decide whether the blocks should stay put when you move out the room, or disappear like the Cane of Somaria. Persistent blocks would make for some interesting puzzles.

Also trying to decide how the overworld will map down to the dungeon, since some of the dungeon rooms are a bit small and constrained. I'd like them to line up. Might still make them the same size as the overworld rooms, just with long connecting bits.

Daily Update - June 18, 2019 -Puzzle design is done! -Tiled map draft is coming along much faster now that I know what to fill the rooms with. Already making tweaks to the puzzles (and I'll certainly make more tweaks when building in GameMaker, just how it goes)

Daily Update - June 19, 2019 -Tiled map draft is almost done! Getting verrrry close now.

Daily Update - June 21, 2019 -Tiled map draft is COMPLETE!!!

Daily Update - June 23, 2019 -The actual dungeon in GameMaker is underway and making quick progress. Already improving on the Tiled map, I think! Could be done with the graybox and have it playable for patrons by the end of the week--stay tuned. Lemony Snicket voice "Graybox" here means "with crappy programmer art and white/black tiles"

Daily Update - June 24, 2019 -Made major headway on the dungeon in GameMaker. Very close to wrapping up the graybox tiles, and I've made a bunch of refinements to the existing layout and puzzles!

Daily Update - June 26, 2019 -Layout and graybox tiles are done -Colliders are done -Cliffs are done -Stairs are done -Pits are done -Item upgrades are placed -Some keys are placed -Buttons are placed (not hooked up yet)

Quasidaily Update - June 27, 2019 -Worked on hooking up buttons and bridges and simplified the lvl1 ring room (for me, should be about the same for the player)

Quasidaily Update - June 28, 2019 -Finished doors and hooked up buttons -Fixed various puzzles and rooms that weren't working correctly

Quasidaily Update - June 39, 2019 -Finished the ladder! -Finished bridge collision -Completed... the trap room -Hooked up the doors/buttons I missed (pretty easy to find since I use a red color blend on the offending buttons ingame) I... uh... am just gonna leave that as the 39th Very very close to alpha now, unless those two bugs end up just crushing me

Quasidaily Update - July 1, 2019 -Added day/night blocks -Added a missing teleporter (int/ext door) -Fixed one of the two softlocking bugs (in about 5 minutes)!

Remaining before patron alpha release: -Secret thing -Second bug -Verification that the dungeon is playable from start to finish

Quasidaily Update - July 2, 2019 -The second bug is technically fixed, but it's pretty janky and unpolished. I'll keep working on this tomorrow. -Cleaned up and optimized the block pushing check logic, which had all kinds of duplicate collision checks and wack timers being set all over the place

Quasidaily Update - July 3, 2019 -Finally fixed the second bug. This was a block syncing/pushing issue that would've prevented everyone from completing the dungeon -Began testing the dungeon's playability from beginning to end. Ran into a few more things I fixed: -Added a level 3 ring upgrade description since it actually does something now -Some bridges were missing pits under them, so you could walk across even if the bridge wasn't activated. -Discovered the level 1 and 2 ring blocks don't fall in pits anymore. Oops. Gotta fix this still. Quasidaily Update - July 3, 2019 PART 2 -The dungeon is playable from start to end (except you can't get in the final room yet, but that's a quick fix) -Hooked up MORE buttons/doors that I had missed -Replaced/moved the keys around--I think this will be much more satisfying now -Added the method to get to t h e s e c r e t Pretty pleased with it this time around--I think it's even more cryptic and fun to discover ehehehe "ehehehe" is to be read with a witch's voice

Quasidaily Update - July 4, 2019 -Tweaked t h e s e c r e t entrance ほほほ -Worked on t h e s e c r e t puzzles.... they're pretty devious お~~ほほほ

Quasidaily Update - July 5, 2019 -Fixed broken challenge puzzle. -Fixed bug with lv1 and lv2 ring mechanics--they weren't falling down pits anymore. That just makes this game way too easy. -Fixed a bug with lv3 ring blocks that was also breaking the challenge puzzle -Added some tiles to cover up my greybox "answers" -This wraps up all the changes for alpha. We'll go live with the alpha for patrons early tomorrow!

Quasidaily Update - July 6, 2019 -Released the patron alpha! Woohoo! Rali has been enjoying it at least/ -Released v0.4.2 update: -Fixed two unmarked pits. Kinda sucks to fall into the solid ground. -Game Over now resets only the player, not the entire game.

Quasidaily Update - July 7, 2019 -Released v0.4.4 update: -Added collision around water bridges so you can't walk on or get trapped on the water... -Removed a call to GMLive that may be causing a crash on the PlayerEquipmentRingState script.

Quasidaily Update - July 7, 2019 PART DOS Released v0.4.10 update: -Removed "You got a key!" text because... well, it should be obvious. -Do not freeze player on headstone moving. -Fix stutter when a level 0 equipped item is "used." -Made it so you can't push jars and blocks up stairs. They are TOO HEAVY. -Added an escape route to the challenge room so you don't have to throw yourself in a pit to get back to the start if you get stuck. It doubles as a "skip" for one of the puzzles once it has been opened. -Fixed challenge room exit so you don't get trapped. :)

Quasidaily Update - July 9, 2019 -Fixed colors on the east/west player "use ring" sprite so that the night palette shader doesn't miss it (meaning it would render her skin in the day palette) -Updated teleporters to use channel strings so I don't have to manually set the target coordinates for ALL THE TELEPORTERS AAAAAAAH. -Oh, and yeah, most importantly: released v0.5.0 update! Completed dungeon remodel!! It uses the build-a-final-key method like in Episode I. This allowed me to make the dungeon a bit less linear. It also meant I knocked down a wall or two, added another puzzle or two, and all around made something I'm much more satisfied with.

Quasidaily Update - July 10, 2019 Released v0.5.5 update! -Fixed a crash when attempting to push arrows (read: moving toward an arrow while it's trying to kill you). -Toned down the arrow knockback effect -Fixed awkward/slow interaction with arrows knocking you into pits -Shortened room respawn freeze time -Fixed a bug where the player could walk directly into the arrow and avoid taking damage. Pretty sure that's not how arrows work (this was related to the pushing bug above!).

Quasidaily Update - July 11, 2019 -Starting to place actual tiles over the greybox tiles and gosh it's nice to have real art.

Quasidaily Update - July 12, 2019 -Majority of the final tiles have been placed and it looks great. I still need to make a few interior wall sets and a handful of floor tiles. It really brings the dungeon to life

Quasidaily Update - July 14, 2019 -Released v0.6.0!!! I'm very excited about this one because it's the first of the graphics updates. The majority of the basic final tiles have been placed. There are more graphics updates to come (which you'll note if you play this version), but is the biggest of 'em. Looks great in day and night!

Quasidaily Update - July 15, 2019 -Added new one-way-jump wall tiles -Completed secret room tiles and decorations -Added lighter tall grass

Quasidaily Update - July 16, 2019 -Today was a writing day, mainly. I'd like to have the little snippets of dialogue and bookshelves and so on done in a day or two. It's exciting stuff, showing off the tips of all these icebergs. -Last night I pushed v0.6.4, an update that had lots of good graphics updates. Except I forgot to replace the player back at the start of the level after testing, so neipo had some fun times starting at the END of the level. Fixed and uploaded in v0.6.5!

More! -Uploaded v0.6.6 in which I fixed an arrow issue that I already fixed previously. Except, I had only fixed it for ProtoDungeon I. Which is why @neipo13 ran into it to my great confusion.

More!!! Uploaded v0.6.8: -Fixed one of the lvl3 ring puzzles so it didn't have a ridiculously easy solution (thanks for finding that, neipo). -Fixed description of round key.

Quasidaily Update - July 17, 2019 I intended to do some writing today, but I got more excited about something else.... sooooo, cue the upload of v0.6.13 - The Optimization Patch! - in which the average framerate on my dev laptop is now 260fps up from 120fps. -Moved the half-speed/GIF mode to only be available in debug mode (this was "G" on the keyboard, so people could just press it and not be sure why the game was running so badly). -Scott's [regular & mod on the server] lappy had major framerate issues running the game, so I did some optimization and found out the pits were accounting for 50% of the time of every single frame. The best part: they only needed to run the offending code ONCE. So I moved that code from the step event to a one-time event and voila, framerate is way more stable. -Turned off GMLive entirely and added an easy toggle for me. This is very useful during development, but it likes to make lots of calls when turned on. -Updated the "listener" step event, which was setting a blend mode every single step. In debugger mode, this is so that stuff like buttons and doors turn red if they're not hooked up. Otherwise it "unsets" the blend mode by setting it to -1 every single step (regardless of debug mode). Apparently this has some unexpected overhead, even if the blend mode is ALREADY -1. A quick and easy fix. -Swapped out the existing (non-moving) tombstone objects for different objects. Almost all of the tombstones were instances of the same object as the ones that move, but that came with a lot of additional overhead (my "listener" object still accounts for a lot of time because it's doing some checking with ds_lists every frame for every listener object; the moving tombstones have listeners, the normal tombstones do not). They're behaving themselves now.

Quasidaily Update - July 18, 2019 Uploaded v0.6.14! -Fixed up collision in the secret room -Finished secret room lore dialogue

There's still more writing to do for the headstones, bookshelves, and a certain NPC who isn't in the game yet, but yeah! Getting there!

Quasidaily Update - July 20, 2019 Over the last day or two, I've slowed down a lot--think I'm getting close to burning out, plus not certain I'm satisfied with the story implementation thus far in Episode II (am I too obscure? Revealing too much? Will people care? etc). That said, I've gotten some stuff done, and uploaded v0.6.19 -Fixed some borked collision near the hut (thanks for finding that, Rali) -Fixed tombstones so they could display text -Added text to various tombstones >:) (and bookshelves) -Fixed the interaction check so that you don't interact with objects to the north of you when facing to the east or west.

Today I switched gears and created a batch file that could compile an executable without even opening GameMaker!! This is actually pretty exciting. I could almost, at this point, switch completely to GMEdit, which is significantly faster and more intuitive tham GM workspaces. Oh, and the batch file also uploads the compiled exe to Itch

Quasidaily Update - July 20, 2019 I decided to switch gears again and work on the save game feature. Not done yet, but it IS saving the player/inventory objects, and I'm setting it up to be pretty easily able to take in any set of objects, auto-read all their variables, and set 'em.

Quasidaily Update - July 22, 2019 Been working on the ol' save system still. It's going well. I had to fight a bit with my camera system (like always lol), and now I'm making sure the ring blocks properly reset--currently they crash the game which isn't quite right...

The system as planned for PDII will essentially be an autosave that triggers on entrance of each room. When loading the game, all solved puzzles should remain solved, and ring blocks should remain in place, and you'll appear at the entrance of whatever room you exited the game from. At some point in a later episode I'll include slots and specific save points not unlike bonfires from Dark Souls

Quasidaily Update - July 23, 2019 Saving and Loading Continued Cleaned up the loading--it would snap you back to the load point and the camera had trouble keeping up. Now it's a nice, clean fade transition with no camera moving around.

What's left: -Properly saving blocks and other puzzle elements. Currently it, uh, duplicates them? So that's nice. -For some reason, the ring itself disappears when you reload the game -Need to set up the fadeout transition so it finishes before puzzle elements get reset and the time of day changes -Set up an autosave on room enter -You can actually get stuck in the first ring room by crossing a bridge and having that bridge disappear behind you, then quitting and loading your save. I'm trying to think of a good way to solve it now and in the future without making it easy to miss setting up something manually.

Quasidaily Update - July 25, 2019 Moar Savingz Ring blocks are finally managing their own order, and it's wayyyyy more stable and uses a ton less code than before. Previously, during the player's "use ring" state, it would call the inventory manager to update the order of the blocks, which it stored in two variables. It worked, but occasionally the order would get really weird and so on, plus it was going to be a nightmare for reloading. The problem is that the inventory manager was holding the ring block IDs in those two variables, and IDs are not guaranteed to be the same on re-run.

Solution: ring blocks get an integer variable that stores their order, called order. When a ring block is created, it tells the other block to update its order. If that order is already 2, destroy it. Simple, and easy to save since it's an int.

In a pre-quasidaily update today Daniel learns why his ring blocks aren't loading They are And then they're instantly destroying themselves Because of the code he wrote To tell them to destroy themselves Thank you

Quasidaily Update - July 26, 2019 Uploaded v0.6.22, possibly the final 0.6 version since saving is coming sooooooooooon. BUT. Here's what you guys get: -Fixed some more collisions near the hut (seriously, did I move that entire room over one tile somehow) -Allow jumping off ANY ledge (WOOO) -Fixed occasional crash when creating ring blocks

The save/load system is working also, but not available outside of debug mode yet! As far as I can tell everything is saving and loading properly as expected. There are a couple places you can save scum past, and I have a few ideas for handling those, but that probably won't be something I deal with for a bit. However, the player is not currently able to save or load (unless they're in debug mode, as mentioned), which leads me to the next major update I will be working on: M E N U S and O P T I O N S

Quasidaily Update - July 27, 2019 I'm 25 minutes through a 70 minute series by FriendlyCosmonaut on a menu system. This is a lot lol.

In the process, I did a little bit of reworking/cleaning on my controls system. I now have some global variables that hold all the currently configured controls, instead of hardcoding the controls into the input manager. This was in preparation to allow control remapping!

Quasidaily Update - July 30, 2019 Been quiet for a few days--hard at work on the new menu system. This one is a doozy, you guys. I haven't done this much straight code on the TWC "engine" since Episode I.... maybe even longer.

Finished the FriendlyCosmonaut series, which was a great foundation. Now I'm building off it (and trying to get tons of parts of it to actually work still). I'd ideally like to have it look a lot like the old mockup from my blog post on difficulty settings (many of those difficulty settings will not be used in ProtoDungeon or TWC).

Here's what I got so far. Still a lot of the FriendlyCosmonaut design in this, which is good, but doesn't quite fit with this game.

brightness/contrast do nothing, window actually works pretty well--unless you change the smoothing size, in which case it starts acting up...

vsync.... I think works? I haven't even tried toggling screenshake I want to use the "bouncing arrows" style from the mockup instead of color, fix the on/off to use arrows instead, fix the sliders so they use pixel arrows instead of drawn circles.... so much left to dooooo I just have to remember it was loading a black screen this morning

Quasidaily Update - August 7, 2019 Been alternating between taking breaks and working furiously on menu stuff, as you can see with screenshots.

Spending a lot of time on remapping. There's a lot to polish here, stuff you might not think about on first glance (What happens if a key is already mapped to another? Do you handle the menu not closing while you're remapping the menu key? Do you handle the menu so it doesn't navigate when mapping the back key? Do you include primary and secondary control sets, and if so, how do you display that clearly? Etc.)

Not all these questions have difficult answers, but they add up. So that's basically all I've been working on for the past week or so :)

Today I got the gamepad up and running and the secondary control set as well. I forgot how good it feels to play the game with a controller vs a keyboard. My wife happily exclaimed "You're playing with a controller!" :D

The secondary control set was a back and forth decision. The deciding factor was mainly wanting to ease the initial "time to start" for different players--so you can move with WASD and the arrow keys, or with the dpad and the stick. I have a pretty good idea how the UI will work for this too, so now that the gamepad is working, I'm gonna start on the secondary controls.

Quasidaily Update - August 11, 2019 -Primary and secondary gamepad button remapping are working -Got some cool new gamepad icons, improved thanks to Corvos -Fixed the menu so you couldn't close it on the menu page when starting the game -Added a second, ingame menu with resume/settings/save & quit as options -The new menu will pause all "actors" (objects with states) -Fixed a bug where the secondary gamepad right input was not mapped

Quasidaily Update - August 13, 2019 -"Defaults" option now works for keyboard and gamepad -Fixed an issue where you couldn't remap some of the secondary keyboard inputs (broke it with the gamepad remapping). -Fixed an issue with the menu arrow being in the wrong place (broke it with the gamepad remapping). -Removed light blue coloring on selected menu items. Judging by other menus, arrow seems to be enough by itself. -When remapping, the current selected control will now blink instead of remaining static. -Made sliders more usable--it wasn't really possible to move them 1% at a time, which was unwieldy and annoying. Now they have a "ramping" speed and are much easier to control.

Quasidaily Update - August 13, 2019, Part II -Toned down the strength of the brightness slider just a bit. -Updated the shaders to affect the GUI as well as the game. This should include the menu as well as the HUD, the dialogue box, and, in TWC, the inventory screen. I kinda like this. We'll see if it bothers people. :D

Quasidaily Update - August 17, 2019 -Fixed an issue with menu sliders not being drawn when the shader is applying to GUI elements. Turns out the built-in line drawing doesn't pass texture information to the shader. At this point I'm not sure how to configure the shader correctly, so I just made the lines into sprites instead lol. -Added title to the top-level menu! Yay! -Fixed game loading so it would load the correct room (both GameMaker room and in-game "area"). -Autosave the game on room entrance. -Autosave the game on getting an item (this way you can't cheese certain rooms). At this point, playing the game, quitting, and coming. back to continue is working REALLY WELL. -No longer save "region" (rooms in the game) objects, since these get created and setup perfectly fine on room creation. -Added SOME SECRETS YAY! -Autosave the game on "teleporting"--going through doors, up/down stairs, etc. -Fixed the "circle out" transition, which was apparently not working or used anywhere. -Changed all "teleportation" to use circle-in/circle-out transitions--a little less visually jarring and much nicer looking than a fade-to-wipe-from-center.

Quasidaily Update - August 19, 2019 -Added tiny pause in the middle of the teleportation transition so that it's a bit less jarring -Simultaneously, allowed toggle to camera easing so that I don't have to add fragile pauses to loading and certain transitions and so on (to wait for the camera to finish moving to catch up with the player loaded position). This fixed a small camera jerk when loading the game. This will eventually be an option on the menu for those that don't like the easing (and also because turning off subpixels makes camera easing REALLY BAD). -Fixed issue with audio groups not loading (by loading them, wow). This is probably temporary since next big task is to add the Wandersong audio engine, but the fix let me actually see my debug messages instead of spamming "Audio Group 2 is not loaded" whenever a sound is played lol. -Fixed bug with loading the game on a teleporter (doors, stairs, etc.) where it would immediately take you to the target location. This had multiple parts, but namely 1) just making sure to set the global "isLoading" flag and to not teleport during that, and 2) setting the "isLoading" flag earlier, since the teleporters were faster than my load manager lol. -Fixed "New Game" issue where it would fade to black, start the game, and then fade to black again. Turns out if you call "fade out" twice, it will fade out twice.

#gamedev #indiedev #devlog #devblog #game development #The Waking Cloak #prequel #ProtoDungeon

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robotvacuumsreviews-blog · 6 years ago

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The Best Robot Vacuums for 2019

The Best Robot Vacuums

Whether you’re replacing an early generation robot vacuum or looking to purchase your first, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the abundance of options and prices, ranging from fairly cheap to fairly steep. We tracked down reliable bots for every home and budget, from simple robots that dust hardwood to mightier models capable of pulling pet hair out of thick rugs. Then we put them to the test to see which ones could pick up dirt while navigating an obstacle course of furniture.

How We Chose the Best Robot Vacuums

We started by researching the entire robot vacuum market, scouring reports and customer reviews, to see which ones really worked best for most types of homes. Research told us to settle for nothing less than the combined action of brushes and suction — and to be competitive in today’s market, these robovacs should be able to integrate nicely into your home and daily life.

Your robot should have a suite of reliable sensors to avoid crashing into everything around it; cliff-detection is also absolutely necessary, because no robot today should take a tumble down the staircase. To make the fairest comparison possible, we excluded robots with dual vacuuming and mopping functions. After compiling our criteria, we further analyzed our list and arrived at nine seemingly top-notch robot vacuums to test.

The robot vacuums we tested this round

Eufy 30C

Roomba i7+

Roomba e

Roomba 690

Roomba 960

EcoVacs Deebot 900

Ecovacs Deebot 601

Neato Botvac D4

Neato Botvac D6

What we’ve tested in the past:

Bissell SmartClean 1974

Ecovacs Deebot N79

Eufy RoboVac 11

bObSweep Bob Pethair Plus

iClebo Arte

iRobot Roomba 690

iRobot Roomba 960

Neato BotVac 80 Connected

Samsung Powerbot

Our 2017 lineup

Terrain handling

We brought all nine robots home to let them run their full courses to see how these bots moved and whether they would roam in circles for several minutes, avoiding actual problem areas, or jammed themselves between chair legs and tight corners. If you aren’t home to rescue a stuck bot, it’s probably spending its cleaning cycle jailed between furniture legs, which means you’re not getting a good clean. However, just because a robovac gets stuck doesn’t mean it’s poorly wired — you might just need to move your stuff out of the way. Regardless of how advanced they are, these machines are generally prone to gobbling scarves and thin curtains, and ambitiously climbing thicker rugs only to get stuck and beep plaintively for help.

Navigation skills

We tested each in a small apartment (1,000 square feet) and a three-story home to see how well each robovac could manage different room sizes and topographies. We aligned the bots with their advertised strengths (carpet, hardwood, etc), and found most bots (in general) clean until the job is done — or until they think they’ve covered the area — rather than continuously operating until their battery runs out. This is especially true for the mapping bots — they typically won’t linger in a certain space for longer than they have to, unless you prompt them to complete a second pass (either manually or via the app). Instead, they’ll seek out new areas to clean and cover more ground.

The majority of the bots were able to work around shifted furniture; the basic bots “forget” the previously-made floor plan and assume everything has changed for the next cleaning cycle — it’s like starting with a blank canvas. More advanced robots can create maps of your home that you can then manipulate and customize for future runs — which is useful but sometimes tricky, especially when the technology doesn’t cooperate (for example: forgetting floor plans or failing to deal with minor shifts of the furniture or charging base).

Cleaning power

Because robot vacuums are designed to deal with everyday dust and debris in the house, and not necessarily heavy-duty pickups, we used finer materials in our controlled test to gauge relative suction powers. We sprinkled 100 grams of flour and 50 grams of coffee grounds onto the apartment living room floor and gave each bot 30 minutes to clean it up. While this debris only comprises a fraction of what most of these robovacs can hold in their dustbins, we found that none of our bots picked up more than 71% (led by the Roomba 960).

Testing limitations: Time

The 30-minute timeframe doesn’t set the stage for a total clean, since this is only a portion of an average run time (60-120 minutes), and the robovacs that operate in more random movements generally perform better when totally unbridled.

Testing limitations: Navigational abilities

We can’t attribute the scant pickup to suction power alone, though — some bots preferred cleaning an entire floor and running on their own terms, whereas others clung to the edges of the walls (Neatos) or enjoyed gliding under furniture (Ecovacs and Eufy). The way a bot is designed to move, along with certain cleaning settings, greatly affects the volume and type of debris a robovac collects.

Ease of use

To really maximize the efficiency of a robot vacuum, you should be able to control it from anywhere — this is why we stuck to Wi-Fi compatible bots. Since connectivity is becoming a standard feature for even entry-level bots, we made distinctions based on how well each synced to our home’s system and whether the corresponding apps communicated reliably with the machines.

This stage also allowed us to see how well these robovacs lived up to their marketing claims. We tested whether these bots could return to their home bases and tried out all the hyped bells and whistles (“no-go lines,” virtual wall hubs, boundary strips, and smart home tools). For the more advanced models, we asked: Can we really draw virtual lines on the app to keep our bots from roaming into certain rooms or areas? How well do these robots actually adapt to changes in the home? No bot is “easy” to use if it can’t adjust to your busy lifestyle (or newly-furnished family room) and leaves obvious dirt on the floor for you to manually vacuum later.

The 5 Best Robot Vacuums

iRobot Roomba 960 -

Eufy RoboVac 30C -

iRobot Roomba 690 -

EcoVacs Deebot 900 -

Roomba i7+ -

Best Navigation and Cleaning Combo

Best for Tight Spaces

Best Basic Model

Best Map Customization

Best High-Tech Model

The Best Navigation and Cleaning Combo

Roomba 960

Thorough cleaning with “recharge and resume” technology.

Pros Methodical cleaning pattern Reliable suite of sensors “Recharge and resume” technology Advanced app

Cons Price

Why we chose it Methodical cleaning pattern

All Roombas boast iRobot’s patented three-stage cleaning system (agitate, brush, suction) and dirt-detection sensors, enabling them to identify high-soil areas and target their cleaning efforts. What really sets this robot apart, though, is its smooth, s-shaped cleaning pattern that actually seeks dirt. In all of our in-home test runs, the Roomba 960 would start at one end of the room, zoom to the other end, and snake its way back, repeating this pattern until it covered the entire area. This motion likely helped it outpace the other bots in our controlled test by picking up 71% of the mixture without pausing or “thinking” it was done halfway through the allotted time. The 960 also has impressive suction power — five times that of the 600-series — making it particularly good for cleaning up after shed-prone pets.

Reliable suite of sensors

The 960 uses odometry (similar to the system that measures the tires on your car) to build a map of the area and help calculate how far it’s traveled. As an added feature not found in its entry-level siblings, the camera on the top of the 960 helps it recognize certain spaces via different patterns of light in order to determine its position on the map.

“To build the map of the floor it is cleaning, the robot — in its brain — draws an imaginary box and then tries to travel and color in that box. As it moves through the home, it discovers walls and other obstacles that help form a map... Once it’s colored in that box, it draws another one and so forth.”

“Recharge and resume” technology

One of the biggest concerns when it comes to even the best robot vacuum is battery life. Poor battery performance can lead to half-cleaned floors and extra legwork on your end. Fortunately, the Roomba 960 (along with other advanced models) has “recharge and resume” technology. This means that when its battery runs low, the 960 will travel to its dock to power up so it can finish the cleaning job. We found this is especially useful for larger homes with more rooms that require extra vacuuming.

Advanced app

The easy-to-use interface of the iRobot app makes setting up your Roomba an absolute breeze — very seldom did we encounter connectivity issues during testing. The app will send you real-time updates of the robot’s status, and if you feel like your floor needs an extra cleaning pass or you need to focus on dust along the baseboards, the app also lets you enable specific cleaning functions.

Both the 690 and 960 let you schedule cleaning times and start a cycle while away, but the 960 goes a step further by sending you a detailed report of where and for how long it cleaned. Although you can still use the virtual wall barrier, you won’t be able to customize or draw virtual boundaries on a map like you can with the i7 — but if you’re indifferent about those high-tech features, the 960 will provide you with just enough post-cleaning data to confirm it’s done its job.

Points to consider Price

This is a drawback for many robot vacuums on the market today — but you do typically get what you pay for. The Roomba 960’s hefty price tag isn’t even one of the most daunting ones. (Just look at the i7+, for example. At $1,000, you’re upgrading to detailed mapping and automated dustbin emptying). But if the price tag is a dealbreaker, check out the newer Roomba e5. It retails for about $100 less but still has the same impressive suction power as the 960. The e5 comes with a washable bin and is designed specifically to deal with pet hair, so if you don’t care about the 960’s meticulous mapping feature or s-shaped cleaning pattern it’s a good option.

The Best for Tight Spaces

RoboVac 30C

A no-fuss, sleek design that kicks dirt lingering beneath low-clearance furniture.

Pros Diligent cleaner Smart, sleek design Easy to use Price

Cons Random motions

Why we chose it Diligent cleaner

The Eufy impressed us with how smoothly it cleaned and transitioned from hardwood to carpet. During our controlled testing, the Eufy 30C unleashed its suction power, sought the mess, and consumed just as much as the Roomba 690 (about 64% of the mixture). Plus, if you’re at home and watching the robot work, you can customize how you want it to clean with spot and edge cleaning functions — the former boosts suction power to target tougher areas on carpet.

The no-frills design didn’t hinder this bot’s cleaning longevity — it outpaced some of our other models when cleaning by consistently running its full 100 minutes. Others sometimes considered the areas clean and called it quits after 10-45 minutes. You’re definitely maximizing cleaning capacity with this bot, because the Eufy didn’t waste time circling one particular corner of the room or halfway cleaning another.

Smart, sleek design

The Eufy 30C glides around and under furniture with ease, making it able to venture into places your handheld and other robots physically can’t. It’s almost an inch shorter than the other vacs we tested, standing at 2.85”. The Eufy was the only robot that “thought” it could manage cleaning under the leather couch in the testing room of the apartment. Granted, it didn’t account for the additional low-hanging beams in the middle of the couch and cried for help when it got stuck, but the fact that it tried and could fit under such a low clearance for even a small amount of time serves as a testament to its slim yet powerful design.

Easy to use

Transitioning the robovac between our two testing homes was a cinch: The robot quickly adapted to the systems of each and responded well to specific cleaning commands on the app (spot and edge cleaning, directional shifts, and premade scheduling prompts). And if you want to keep your robot out of a certain area, Eufy gives you three different ways to do this: virtual controls, physical remote controls, and boundary strips (these look like thin magnets).

We also receive real-time updates on the Eufy’s progress, so if it were to get stuck under a piece of furniture or scoop up a napkin in its left wheel on the way out of the kitchen — we knew immediately. These push notifications are common to almost all robot vacuums today, but Eufy gave especially deliberate, clear, and accurate updates, which made fixing the problem that much easier. After pulling the robot out from under the couch or plucking the forgotten napkin from its wheel, the bot continued its route as if nothing had happened.

Price

While this is a pretty basic bot when compared to the market at large, the Eufy 30C is reliable, provides a powerful clean, and still gives you the freedom to forget about vacuuming, for hundreds of dollars less than some others. It isn’t one of the cheapest, but for its price ($300), it optimizes its capabilities and meets marketing claims.

If you want something even cheaper

We picked the Eufy 30C because of the convenient mobile control and powerful suction, but if you don’t care about , scheduling cleans from your from your phone, or mind giving up a little bit of suction power, the Eufy 11s has great reviews and retails for about $80 cheaper than its newer sister. The Eufy 30 is basically our pick without — again, if you don’t mind giving that up, this is another sound option.

Points to consider Random motions

The Eufy 30C absolutely gets the job done and typically uses its full battery life before returning to the home base. But if you want a detailed map or report of exactly where your bot cleaned while you were gone, you’ll need to look elsewhere. The lack of advanced navigation can actually be an advantage in some situations — just because a bot maps the area, doesn’t mean it’ll automatically give your home a better clean. If you don’t mind moving your robot between floors, the Eufy will clean without the sensitivity or (potential) predetermined restrictions of a stored floor plan — it starts with a clean slate every time like the Roomba 690. While this might mean it bumps into the same bar stool every round until you move it elsewhere, this isn’t necessarily a negative, since the landscape of your home is prone to change over time, too.

The Best Basic Model

Roomba 690

A persistent, diligent, and cost-effective robot that won’t stop until the dirt is gone.

Pros Cleaning power Cost-effectiveness

Cons Shorter battery life Not as easy to clean

Why we chose it Cleaning power

This robot is tenacious. In fact, it might even be a more diligent cleaner than the 960 (although not as powerful). We were impressed with the Roomba 690’s decisive motion — rather than languishing in tight spots, it either powered through or powered back out. The Roomba 690 also picked up almost two whole cups of cheerios — when it noticed a pile in the middle of the floor, it used its “dirt detection” power and circled the mess until it was gone.

The Roomba 690 makes its way around by bumping into things, because it doesn’t have the same sensor makeup as the 960 or i7 and lacks the light-detecting camera. But it does do its job. This was even reflected in our controlled tests, where the 690 wasn’t too far behind the 960 in overall dirt pickup (64% compared to 71%).

Cost-effectiveness

One of the main reasons we kept this robot in our lineup was because of its reliable, basic functionality at a fair price. It retails for around $300 on Amazon, which is an entry-level price tag in the robot vacuum market. Not everyone is going to want or need an advanced robot vacuum that maps and methodically travels throughout their home — if you’re looking for a robot to do the bare minimum and give one or two rooms an effective clean, this is a safe bet.

Points to consider Shorter battery

The Roomba 690’s battery doesn’t last as long as those of pricier models. Although the 690 technically runs for 15 more minutes than the 960, the Roomba 960 can extend its battery life for a certain run by recharging and resuming without any prompting. That said, there’s no need for an upgrade if you have a small home or apartment — the 690 has you covered. For few rooms and thin to normal carpeting, the 690 allows you to give your manual vacuum a much longer down time.

Not as easy to clean

The Roomba 690’s brushes are easy to pop in and out — but pulling long hair strands entwined within the bristled brush can be a chore, especially when compared to the dual rubber-brushed design of the newer i and e Series Roombas. Unlike the newer iRobot models, the 690 and 960 dustbins can’t be washed because of their proximity to the motor (the company fixed this problem by moving the motors farther away).

The Best for Map Customization

ECOVAVCS

This robot builds a detailed blueprint of your floor plan in no time, and its mapping customization features let you target contained messes with ease.

Pros Navigation and advanced mapping Slim design Continuous cleaning

Cons Weaker suction Glitchy app

Why we chose it Navigation and advanced mapping

When we let this EcoVacs robot roam the family and guest bedroom of our apartment (about 400 square feet total), it created a detailed map and accurately segmented the rooms in less than 40 minutes. The EcoVacs app lets you send the robot to clean a specific zone on your floor plan. We tested this from our office 19 miles away — we drew a box around a small portion of the living room in the apartment and watched the little blue dot on the app (which represents the robot) travel to that box and clean for three or four minutes before returning to its home base. If you want to clean a contained spill without having to wait 30 minutes for your robot vacuum to bump around and figure out where the mess is, you can just tell this bot exactly where to go.

Slim design

Despite being a tad taller than our Roombas (3.74”), this robot makes a point to travel under under low-clearance furniture. The knob at the top (which is the hub that emits the laser — or lidar — technology that makes mapping so easy) makes it a little thicker and less able to crawl under certain places than the Eufy, but this didn’t necessarily hinder its performance in slipping under those dressers and low coffee tables.

Continuous cleaning

Like the higher-grade Roomba models (i7 and 960), you can set the EcoVacs Deebot 900 to a “continuous cleaning” mode. This means if your robot runs out of battery halfway through the cleaning run, it’ll scoot back to its charging base for an extra boost before continuing the round. Combined with the easy and efficient mapping functionality, this makes running this robot relatively low-touch.

Points to consider Weaker suction

If you want a robot vacuum to pick up loose, light debris, this EcoVacs will get the job done, but it isn’t as powerful as others. It only brought in about 43% of our test mixture after 30 minutes. That’s not to say it wouldn’t have collected it all eventually, but we chose it more for its easy-to-manage, strong mapping technology than pure cleaning power. You can also select “max” vacuum power in the app to amp suction for any and all cleaning passes, if you choose. You will be forfeiting a quieter clean, but that’s only a problem if you’re around to hear it.

Scott Ledterman, general manager of EcoVacs, says that noise and suction power go hand-in-hand. Ledterman says the team at Ecovacs tries to strike the right balance between delivering effective cleaning and tolerable noise, even if this means slightly slowing fan motor speeds (which weakens suction) to drive the noise down.

“At the end of the day, it needs to have enough power to pick up dirt and grime reliably to where it doesn’t leave stuff on the floor… but combine that with a product that’s quieter than a dishwasher, so it can run in your home while you and your family or friends are actually hanging out in the home.”

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thezodiaczone · 7 years ago

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June Forecast for Cancer

Take it easy, Crab. The Sun is in savasana for the first three weeks of the month, relaxing in Gemini and your twelfth house of healing and closure. This is your annual “low-power” cycle, a time to nest, rest and release. Before your birthday time and #CancerSeason kick into gear on June 21, clear the decks of anything you don’t want to bring into your next year of life. Resolve resentments, wrap up lingering projects and do some soul-searching.

Don’t be surprised if you’re tired or unfocused—just roll with the right-brained energy for now and don’t force yourself to rally when you feel tapped out. With el Sol in this dreamy space (along with mental Mercury, which is in Gemini until June 12), your subconscious is activated. Dreams could be vivid and prophetic, and your instincts are on point. You’ll absorb people’s energy like a sponge (so watch who you spend your time with). Pay special attention to coincidences, strong gut feelings and serendipities. That’s the universe guiding you, Cancer!

That divine wisdom will be especially palpable at the Gemini new moon on June 13. Hosting a new moon of fresh starts in your twelfth house of endings is a bit of a paradox. But if you think of the “circle of life,” endings naturally flow into beginnings. What can you clear away to make space for something new? This new moon will also amplify your intuition, so follow any hunches. Tap in to higher wisdom with meditation, journaling or creative visualization. Energetic seeds planted today could blossom in the next six months. If there were a perfect new moon for writing down intentions and asking the universe for clear signs, this is it!

Father’s Day is June 17, and the moon will be in Leo, ruler of your classy second house. Treat your favorite father figure to a sophisticated celebration or splurge on a special gift. Think: small personalized touches like monogramming or engraving his initials into a beautiful accessory. It doesn’t have to be fussy, just something thoughtful that adds a touch of dad-friendly style to his world. Arts and culture are emphasized under this moon, so grab tickets to a live show, update his sound system with a great speaker or head to a food festival for family fun.

The next day, June 18, hazy Neptune turns retrograde, an event that happens around the same dates every year. Neptune will reverse through Pisces and your expansive ninth house, throwing off your risk-assessment gauges. You could overshoot the mark now, gambling on something without proper research or falling for a smooth talker’s exciting but pie-in-the-sky promises. Between now and November 24, be especially careful what you say yes to: Conduct due diligence, ask for references (and use them), read those reviews. The ninth house rules travel, so check out the comments on TripAdvisor before you book that “sweet resort deal.”

Since retrogrades connect us to the past, you might be better off revisiting an old favorite spot (especially near water). Neptune’s U-turn in your knowledge-seeking ninth house could be great for resuming an old course of study or immersing yourself in a favorite metaphysical practice. Head to the air-conditioned library on sweltering summer days—there’s gold in ‘dem dusty stacks!

Rub the sleep out of your eyes on June 21, when the Sun enters Cancer, waking you up and getting you psyched for a fresh start. Your energy reboots, and, if you let yourself rejuvenate this month, you’ll have a full tank just in time. If you’ve been unclear about next steps, you’ll be ready for decisive moves now. The path will start to look clearer with each passing day.

But that doesn’t mean you should rush into anything. On June 26, action planet Mars will also turn retrograde, bringing the total count of retrograde planets to FIVE (Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto have all been back-spinning for a couple months now). With so many slowed-down celestial bodies, it’s important that you also pace yourself, retracing your steps if necessary and evaluating things thoroughly before locking down commitments.

Mars will be retrograde until August 27, which will largely impact your eighth house of intimacy and shared resources, since Mars is in Aquarius from May 16 until August 12. Having the passionate and fiery planet going rogue here could drive up jealousy, competitiveness or buried resentments (yikes!). You may need to slow down or press pause on a romantic, sexual or financial entanglement that’s moved too fast for YOUR own good. Have you skipped the necessary steps in your rush to seal the deal?

For couples who hit a rocky patch, the Mars retrograde cycle is a crucial time to work through your differences (ideally with a professional). If you decide to part ways, it could get acrimonious, especially if you’re dividing shared property or if kids and pets are involved. Get a mediator if necessary. While you may not hit the “conscious uncoupling” nirvana of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin (#goals), make every effort not to get dragged into ugly power struggles and damaging dynamics.

The two days after Mars turns retrograde will also have a strong relationship emphasis. On June 27, the Sun makes its once-a-year opposition to somber Saturn, which is in Capricorn and your seventh house of partnerships. Have you lost touch with yourself or made someone else’s needs more important than your own? (#CancerProblems) You could have a wakeup call about the impact of that. You can’t avoid your own life by trying to manage someone else’s. If a relationship has turned toxic, whether romantic or business, boundary hound Saturn can help you take an essential step back to evaluate. Warning: The Sun-Saturn opposition can make you extra pessimistic, to the point of losing perspective. Hold off on making an irreversible decision until you’re certain it’s the right thing to do.

The next day, June 28, brings the year’s only full moon in Capricorn, which could deliver sought-after clarity around your commitments. If you’ve been waiting for word on a contract or sitting on the fence about a key alliance, this lunar lift could spur you into action. Full moons bring transitions and manifestations. A relationship could turn official—or you may decide to formally part ways. This balancing full moon gets your existing bonds back in sync. If you’re giving too much to some or leaning too heavily on others, these moonbeams can get you in a more mutual groove. With structured Saturn hovering close by, a conversation about boundaries and expectations could really help!

Love & Romance

With Venus in your sign until June 13, you’ll be in lighthearted, flirty spirits. Your confidence is at an annual high, and when you feel this independent and empowered, you attract people to you like moths to a bonfire.

The first week of the month delivers some pretty heady highs (and one possible challenge) as Venus hooks up with other planetary heavyweights. On June 1, Venus forms a flowing trine to expansive Jupiter in smoldering Scorpio and your romance sphere. New amour could appear on your radar without any warning (so consider yourself “warned”)! The next day, Venus forms a second trine to dreamy Neptune in soulful Pisces and your visionary, adventurous ninth house. Expand any limiting beliefs to allow love to grow. Think and act beyond your comfort zone and watch your love life transform. Then on June 5, an opposition to shadowy Pluto in your partnership realm could bring some heavy emotions to the surface or reveal where someone’s been less than truthful.

Meanwhile, spicy Mars is in Aquarius and your playing-for-keeps eighth house all month. So while you might be enjoying witty banter and admiration on the outside, a more internal part of you is craving intensity and intimacy. Some Crabs could be processing a breakup or other heavy emotions (hello, vulnerable moments), or wrestling with a surge of jealousy. And then, once Mars turns retrograde for two months on June 26 (until August 27), you may be forced to face some relationship speed bumps. Watch out for the unannounced return of a button-pushing ex and think twice before opening any doors to them.

Venus will change signs—and moods—when she jets into Leo from June 13 to July 9, settling into your stabilizing second house. Sensuality and sensibility return, though when she squares off with Uranus (June 14) and opposes Mars a week later (June 21), you may be torn between wanting more security and following your passionate emotions. The only way to find a happy medium might be to dabble at both ends of spectrum and let your heart decide.

Key Dates

June 14: Venus-Uranus Square Comparing yourself to other people could unglue the stability of a bond. You may get obsessed with keeping up appearances instead of being authentic. Sparks can fly with an online match or a friend you reconnect with virtually. But keep your wits about you. With disruptive Uranus at a tense angle to romantic Venus, the stars could throw your love life an unexpected curveball.

Money & Career

Do your research, Crab. You may be considering a joint venture or a big money move as June begins. Go-getter Mars is in Aquarius and your eighth house of investing and financial collaborations from May 16 to August 12. Exciting partnership and growth opportunities could crop up—and with pressure-cooker Mars here, you’ll feel the urge to act on them quickly. But with the Sun in Gemini and your foggy twelfth house until June 21 (and intellectual Mercury here until June 12), there may be more to the story than you think. Conduct due diligence so you can move forward with your eyes wide open.

Mars will be retrograde from June 26 to August 27, which could bring a few financial hiccups. An old debt may come due, or you might have some mind-numbing details to pore over in a legal contract, mortgage or clause. If you’re in the process of buying or selling property, Mars retrograde could also jangle the wires. Use the slowed-down retrograde to research and get all your ducks in a row; then make some turbo-powered money moves in the fall.

You’ll start to see clearly again once Mercury enters Cancer from June 12 to 29, followed by the Sun’s monthlong visit to your sign beginning June 21. Have you been sacrificing too much for others? These transits snap you out of martyr mode—time to stop enabling capable adults. Let them pull their weight, Crab. The June 28 Capricorn full moon could bring a make-or-break moment to a business partnership or contract. Who are the people that really deserve inner-circle status? If you’re carrying someone else’s load, stop, drop and keep it rolling. See if they start pulling their own weight once you quit making excuses and enabling. That will help you determine whether someone’s truly a slacker, or if they just didn’t have a chance to show you how capable they are.

Key Dates

June 7: Sun-Neptune Square Dial up the skepticism today. You might be lured by a charismatic character’s big talk, but if you’re keeping a keen eye out, you’ll quickly realize that this emperor has no clothes. Think twice about signing onto anything new; what seems straightforward at first blush could turn out to be one messy and tangled web.

Love Days: 23, 29 Money Days: 8, 17 Luck Days: 15, 6 Off Days: 13, 26, 4

#cancer #astrology #zodiac #horoscope #Monthly Forecast #cancer monthly

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vis3003 · 4 years ago

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Business Card Project - Part 1

Around the time this module started, I got back into contact with someone by the name of Josh Hitchcock who I met and worked with back in college. We met when we were 16 and worked on several projects with each other during our year studying photography together, I learned a lot from Josh and we’ve stayed loosely in contact ever since leaving school but haven’t collaborated on anything for around 5 years despite having always had similar interests, styles and aesthetics. Josh is also still pursuing his passions and talents in visual communication and is beginning to build a portfolio with the aim of applying for a BA, just like I was doing this time last year. Alongside getting himself prepared to do a degree, he has been expanding his online presence and slowly establishing a business and brand identity for himself. He reached out to me originally to ask if I could potentially create him a logo that he could use across all of his platforms which he needed fairly quickly as he was building a website, unfortunately I couldn’t meet the turnaround deadline and so he commissioned someone else to do a logo, later reaching out to me again to ask if I might be able to create business cards instead.

Josh had already started sketching out ideas and so he sent me his drawings as a starting point for the design

After some discussion and a little bit of time, Josh came to the decision that this was his favorite prospective card design and even began experimenting with it's colors.

It was at this point that I asked him to create a Pinterest board to help gather all of the ideas together which he promptly delivered on. Pinterest’s description of the board “Clean, simple doodles. Photography orientated based on nature and ancient art. A perfect combination of tech, nature and aesthetic.” sums it up perfectly. This was a really strong starting point for the overall design as it includes everything from small decorative graphic details such as flowers, vines and suns; to a concise range of colors for the palette of the art itself. The board isn’t overcrowded, it's clearly well thought through and does good job of clearly communicating the kind of style that I was expected to reflect in my design.

Coincidentally around the same time I started this project, I decided to treat myself to an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to support my University work, these have become increasing popular in the art world because they are incredibly powerful creative tools, I chose to invest in it mainly for it’s capabilities in creating digital art using the Adobe suite and Procreate using the pencil which is exclusive to iOS and has is slowly becoming the standard for digital drawings.

Having recently attended the Illustrator workshop, I thought that I would experiment with using this software both on my iPad and computer as I figured if I could learn to use them in conjunction with one another from the get go, I would be in a better position overall later on; but in doing so, I threw myself two learning curves at once as I was not only dabbling in software I wasn’t comfortable with but also using that software on a device that I am a complete beginner to which was a definite challenge for myself.

I started out by doing a Google search to find out what the standard size is for business cards and found out that is generally 3.5 x 2 inches (1050 x 600 pixels at 300 DPI, which is the standard DPI for printing). This is how I decided to set my document up which is what gives me the white rectangular shape that you see me working on to start off with.

To begin the design, I picked out my favorite things from Josh's sketch which were the wavy line details and the bohemian style sun. I created some simple outlines using the line tools on iPad Illustrator starting with the border and dividing horizontal line where I intended the design to end, from this I was able rough out where patches of lines would go and add the sun. For the sun, I originally tried to draw one with wavy points but I was struggling to get it proportionate, even when I'd figured out how to use the reflect tool to make my drawing symmetrical, it seemed to be throwing the design off and so I threw this idea out and went for a pointed sun design instead. I chose triangles for the points as a subtle reference to the exposure triangle which is a rule that dictates camera settings when it comes to photography so it ties in with the business well and was also a concept that Josh was trying to reflect in his logo. I achieved the geometrically accurate shape of the points around the sun by creating the very top triangle and then using the Radial Reflect tool whilst using my iPad which automatically created the rest of the points for me with even spacing and perfect symmetry; all I had to do then was resize the points as I pleased. Once I had done this, I decided to repeat the process but with a small line between each point to give it an extra beaming sunshine look, this also fits in with how some of the sun's and graphics are drawn on the Pinterest board that I'm referring to as I design this.

Once the outlines were complete, I started experimenting with filling in the patches with lines, this is an effect that is featured on the album art of one of my favorite albums of all time, Currents by Tame Impala which I previously learned how to do using a vector pack from Spoon Graphics as I did work inspired by it for my University portfolio. Although I have used these particularly line textures before, I have only used them in Photoshop and not Illustrator so I haven't actually used the vector versions of them up until this point. I inserted these into my work using my computer as that's where they were saved, I was able to use Adobe Cloud to sync my work between my PC and iPad making it easy and convenient to switch between the two whilst working. Adjusting the waves worked similarly to how it does when I use them in Photoshop, I just added them in as a layer and then used direct selection mode to delete the extra lines around the outlines and border that I’d drawn in leaving me with what you see above. At this point, I sent what I’d done so far to Josh so that I could begin to get his feedback and make sure that what I was doing was in line with his vision.

Whilst I was waiting for him to reply, I started experimenting with adding color to the design hoping that it would help us visualize it better; I used colors directly from the Pinterest board for my palette by taking a screenshot of the webpage, opening it up in Illustrator, swatching all of the colors and adding them to my Color Library so that they could be easily accessed whenever I needed them.

At this point, I just filled in the colors according to what made sense to me, blue for the sky, yellow for the sun and something contrasting for the wavy lines, honestly, I chose orange because it’s my favorite color and I really like the way that the purple looks next to it, especially against the blue background where it appears slightly more subtle whilst still being effective at breaking up the image in the way that it needs to.

I continued to add colour, changing every other point on the sun to be red to give it more dimension and incorporate more of the colours from the chosen scheme; I then added green to the bottom section which I chose because I thought it would represent grass and fit in with the sun and sky theme that seemed to be emerging. I also added some small stars as I was experimenting with the shape tools dotting them into some small empty spaces on the design so that they line up in a triangular shape which is another subtle reference to the expose triangle.

Then I started experimenting with adding text and social media icons, Josh had told me that he wanted his name, website and social media information on the card, we decided to leave his phone number out as he only has a personal mobile number and didn’t want to risk handing it out to strangers. I chose this Art Deco style font for the name because I liked the lines in it and thought it went well with the lines in the top half of the design which are probably my favourite thing about it at this point. I didn’t use the same font for the website because it doesn’t look as good when it’s small, you can’t really see the lines and it made the website hard to read so instead I chose this glyph font which I thought Josh would like based on some of the imagery from the Pinterest board; I was unsure about this choice at first but it quickly grew on me as it’s subtle and yet it makes the website look bold on the bottom of the image which draws your eye down to it when you’re reading the information. I also added some social shapes to the front keeping Josh updated on my progress as I went along.

It was at this point that I started to receive some feedback from him, he was really happy with the first impressions of the design but did want to make a few changes. He started out by asking if I could change the green on the bottom to the orange colour in the waves with the hope of giving the card a more uniform look which we both agreed looked much better. He then asked me if I’d started designing the back which I hate to admit that I hadn’t actually thought about at this point and so we started discussing the layout; collectively agreeing to move the social media information to the back of the card and have that there along with some sort of bio which I much preferred the idea of as I wasn’t too keen on how the social shapes looked on the front of the card and I was worried about how I was going to fit all of the contact details on without making it look messy.

Originally we thought it might be nice to add some floral details to the front of the card where the space had now been freed up but we quickly decided that this didn’t look quite right.

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localocksmithnearme · 4 years ago

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Cadillac Escalade Fob Keys And Remote Program San Antonio TX

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cosmosogler · 7 years ago

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today i woke up on time!

i saw snoopy had pooped on the couch AND on the rug in front of the sink. so i shoved some in the sample thing and cleaned that up. then i worked out for over 20 minutes, and then i swam for about 10. i made 4 complete laps across the pool, which is... very big. then i showered and then i threw the blanket and rugs into the wash (snoopy’s gotten SOMETHING on all of them by now) and then i took the sample to the vet. getting there wasn’t too bad. i asked the tech at the counter some questions and she suckered me into buying a 20 dollar bottle of friendly cat smell.

the bus only comes once every hour on weekends so i sat at the bus stop and played pokemon and listened to a taz episode while i waited. i completed my taz episode right as i stepped off the bus near my apartment to walk home. then in the last minute of the walk, as soon as i reached the apartment property, the sky opened up and dumped on me. i sprinted to the building and that helped a little bit.

after that i was tired and it had taken about 2 hours to do what i thought would be an 80-90 minute job so i made some lunch. i lost my appetite a few bites in. i cleaned the apartment instead, and then i went grocery shopping.

it always hurts to spend that much money at once but then i realize that this food keeps me going for over a week basically, and it would be more than twice as expensive to try to eat on campus every day. vegetarian-oriented items can get expensive... and the fresh fruit puts a hole in my wallet. but i do feel pretty good, or good enough. i don’t get stomachaches when i eat that stuff, but my body still seems to feel sick.

the trip back from the grocery store was pretty intense! i got some really good practice at looking completely occupied and unwilling to let anyone get in my way. freshman-looking girls and boys parted for me on the sidewalk. i hurt my shoulder carrying the canvas bag. it doesn’t still really hurt, but it is kind of tender when i work the joint.

also for some reason my key wasn’t working on the back door to the building so i had to walk an extra block around the front and then all the way back around the outside to the back where the stairs/elevator are.

after that it was kinda late... i put on another taz and made my team for the pokemon competition. i got ROCKED in my first battle, and then my internet went out during the second battle so i kinda left it at that. i called mom and asked about the dogs and left instructions for my sister to find some gamecube games to send and that took a half hour. i also made a microwave dinner but it was kinda weird tasting and i was sad that it did not taste like actual pad thai at all. like it was a total airball on flavor there.

i opened a smaller window for snoopy and she loved it. and i took out the trash and recycling. i can’t seem to produce enough trash to fill a bag before it’s time for it to be taken out. i don’t mind that- it’s just a shame to be using the normal amount of bags for not a lot of trash.

instead of studying tonight i spent a lot of time training my pokemon and just listening to music and chilling. i combed through all the university’s clubs to look for a hobby that fits my schedule. looks like i’m going to check out the knitting club and maybe the creative writing club. let’s see if i can actually show my art to other people any more. i ain’t made no art in a long time, visual or writing.

i was kind of annoyed with myself for training pokemon but i couldn’t seem to stop. i’m just so tired after all the running around all day and pokemon is a nice thing to keep my hands busy when my brain can’t keep going any more.

i also wanted to check out events for residents around town but the official gainesville event web site hasn’t updated in about four years. so that wasn’t a very good resource.

tomorrow i’m going to go to the physics department and study there. it’s a little easier (not easy, but... less hard) to stay focused in my office compared to my desk at home. partly because it’s a working place, but mostly because i can fit everything comfortably on the desk’s surface and it’s not too cluttered. i haven’t found a good place yet for a bunch of things that have found their home on my desk. since snoopy isn’t using the top of the little drawer any more i might put some stuff there...

snoopy’s starting to fill out a little more. her shoulders feel like a normal animal and not like a skeleton. and i’ve gotten a little better at brushing- short swipes like how cats groom themselves instead of body-length brushes. it doesn’t pick up nearly as much hair, but snoopy seems more comfortable with it.

she also seems to like to lounge where she has a good view of whatever she wants to look at. her bed is by the window and she only hangs out on the top perch of that. she also likes to sleep next to the washing machine with a clear view out past me at my desk into the hallway. and the top of my bed is high enough to see out of the little alcove into the kitchen/living room/window. the little shelf under my desk does not provide much to look at.

that was my day, basically, roughly. it’s weird how body tiredness and mind tiredness are not always in sync. right now both are tired, absolutely, but after my workout this morning really just my body was tired. and most of the time, only my mind is tired. when one is tired the other usually gets super restless. hence the fiddling with pokemon all evening.

i’m not really sure why i still keep losing my appetite. i guess i am pretty stressed... not as lonely with snoop around, but still kinda wanting more out of my conversations. i talk to snoopy but it’s mostly stuff that’s meant to be reassuring. at this point she might think her name is “good girl” haha.

i think snoopy and i are a good match for each other personality wise. there’s some learning and adjusting behaviors happening of course but she’s very affectionate and i have a lot of affection to give. we’re also both kinda low-energy and fairly quiet.

she’s kind of like eve in that she loves pets and can’t get enough of a good scratch under the chin, but she doesn’t like cuddling at all. that’s fine with me. but it’s kind of funny because snoopy likes to perch on the couch’s arm and won’t let me help her balance with two hands so sometimes she ends up leaning into my hand and almost tipping off the couch. she probably would slip less if she had claws.

oh, today she discovered that she can use the smaller couch to get up on my kitchenware shelves. she was poking my silverware with her nose. she’s pretty good about cutting it out when i use a more urgent tone of voice at least. or when i gently push her nose away from my food with the back of my hand. i wonder what she was like when she was younger.

anyway i guess i should get ready for bed. in my dreams last night i took a swim to the bottom of the ocean looking for a palace that was popping in and out of existence like there was some kind of static between it and reality. i caught a glimpse of it, toward the end, but the currents were too strong so i never really got anywhere near it.

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lunasong365 · 8 years ago

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Yes! the cover from the local arts paper promoting our upcoming program, Alexander Nevsky!

Full article under cut.

Consider today’s military warriors and the implements of battle they don. Underneath all that intimidating technology is a human being whose identity vanishes and appears to the enemy as an anti-human robot, part of the psychology of today’s warfare.

Now, dial the calendar back seven and three-quarters centuries and focus on Europe. Lose the uniform, the rifle, the communications gear, the enhanced visual technology, all of it. Dress the guy in either shredded clothes or cumbersome armor, and arm him with swords, bows, and variations of clubs as he makes eye contact with the warrior he’s about to cut to ribbons or bludgeon to a pulp. Burden him with disease and infections resulting from the wounds, inflicted by unsanitary weaponry. This was the modern soldier in the 1200s.

And there was no shortage of soldiers in the 13th century. Or wars. Peace in that era was evasive as countries invaded one another over rivalries, revenge, land grabs, and religion. Zoom in closely on almost any area, especially central and northern Europe, and you would find some sort of skirmish.

Inevitably, there were heroes. Mel Gibson made Scotland’s William Wallace famous in his 1995 film “Braveheart.” In 2011, Jonathan English’s “Ironclad” told the story of a handful of Knights Templar defending Rochester Castle against the despotic King John, played by Paul Giamatti, refining his snarl for the eventual role of U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades in “Billions.” Perhaps most significantly, in 1938 the Russian director Sergei Eisenstein filmed the bio-pic “Alexander Nevsky.”

On Jan. 6, 7, and 8, Neal Gittleman will lead the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, chorus, and soloist Ryu-Kyung Kim in a live performance of the music to accompany a screening of the film at the Schuster Center.

For 196 years, beginning in 1095, the Papacy in Rome launched four major crusades to the east. There were several goals to these wars, ranging from recapturing Jerusalem from Islam to contesting paganism and heresy in lands where Christians lived but did not rule. These incursions met with varying degrees of success and some deeply affected the futures of countries.

In 1193, Pope Celestine III sanctioned the Northern Crusades, pressing the Kingdom of Sweden to advance east into areas deemed rife with paganism. The Swedes controlled Scandinavia, leaving the Teutonic Knights to capture what are now Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. By 1203 the Knights maintained control, but the Estonians pushed back for more than 30 years, finally losing in 1236. The loss expanded the Holy Roman Empire to Lake Peipus, which formed part of the border between Estonia and the Russian republic of Novgorod. On April 5, 1242, 19-year-old Alexander Yaroslavich led his troops to victory over the Teutonic Knights, whose win was aided when many German soldiers fell through the ice and drowned because their armor was too heavy for the ice to hold (you won’t see that in the movie). As a sign of extreme adulation, Alexander’s troops renamed him “Nevsky,” a reference to the nearby Neva River. The Germans never challenged the Russians again for centuries. Nevsky, the son of a prince, became a prince himself and used his position as a skilled politician and negotiator. In 1252, he was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (the supreme ruler of Russia).

In 1938, with relations between Germany and Russia fraying, 40-year-old Russian Director Sergei Eisenstein began production on a paean to Alexander Nevsky and his victory. Eisenstein was born in Riga, less than 100 miles from the battle his movie would present, so he had a historical connection to the event, as well as a point of view about Germans.

Eisenstein’s career bridged cinema’s silent and sound era, and he was a pioneer in the use of the montage, a cinematic device to show the passage of time. But he had not directed a released movie in nearly a decade because of an extended trip to the United States and Mexico. His attempts at finishing films in both countries ended in failure due, in part, to politics: Sergei was a communist and that meant trouble in the West. Upon his return to the USSR, “Alexander Nevsky” was his comeback project.

The film is about the battle, but to get to a running time of 112 minutes, Eisenstein and co-writer Pyotr Pavlenko (installed to keep Eisenstein in line with Soviet film-making requirements) added a couple of backstories. The first was about two warrior friends competing for the hand of a Novgorod maiden. The other concerned a woman, whose father was killed by the enemy, wh chooses to fight on the ice alongside one of the competing warriors.

Sergei Prokofiev’s music is, of course, a cornerstone of 20th century Russian romanticism. Its strikingly beautiful main theme is immediately recognizable, especially if you’re a fan of Woody Allen’s hilarious 1975 farce “Love and Death.” After the film’s release, Prokofiev restructured the music into a 40-minute, seven-movement cantata for orchestra, chorus, and mezzo-soprano that sings about the battle’s casualties.

The experience of hearing a soundtrack by a live ensemble gives a motion picture punch and life that a recorded soundtrack cannot impart. Given the age of the film, despite restoration and an updated recorded soundtrack, this is one movie whose accompaniment by a live orchestra will offer a thrilling evening.

Dayton City Paper spoke with Maestro Neal Gittleman—a man whose Russian heritage vibrates through his bones and his baton to electrify the orchestra’s Russian-written pieces—about his knowledge of and connection to “Alexander Nevsky.”

Why did Eisenstein and/or the Russian government choose Prokofiev for this film?

Neal Gittleman: It was the first collaboration of “the two Sergeis.” The whole project was closely monitored by the Mosfilm studio (and, presumably, by Stalin), so whoever had the idea of putting them together, it was certainly endorsed by the “powers that were.”

The government hired a couple of film professionals to work with Prokofiev. What might they have been concerned about?

NG: Paranoids are concerned about everything!

How do you know when to play as the movie progresses?

NG: My score has time codes indicated in it for synchronization. I have three things to look at: 1. the score; 2. a video screen showing the film (so I don’t have to look up at the big screen); 3. a second video screen showing an analog clock that’s synced to the film so the times on the clock correspond to the time cues in my score. The last time we did “Nevsky” (November 1998), it was a real clock, physically synced to the film projector. Now, everything’s been digitized, so instead of looking at a real clock, I’m looking at a video of the real clock that’s synced to the video of the film.

Are there different scores for the movie and the cantata version?

NG: Yes. Here’s the sequence…

1. 1938: Prokofiev writes the score for the film (simultaneously with the filming).

2. 1938: Prokofiev records a rough (and I mean rough) soundtrack for Eisentstein to use in the editing process, intending to rerecord everything once the film has a final edit.

3. 1938: Stalin sees a rough cut of the film with the temporary music track and loves what he sees.

4. 1938: Mosfilm tells the Sergeis that they’re done. If the “Great Leader and Teacher” loves it, don’t change a thing. So the rough cut is the version that’s released, complete with the hideous-sounding temp soundtrack.

5. 1939: Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Agression Pact is signed, and suddenly, the Nevsky film is (to use a modern-day parlance) politically incorrect. It’s pulled from theaters immediately.

6. 1939: As he had done with “Romeo and Juliet” when politics delayed its premiere, Prokofiev created a concert suite from the Nevsky soundtrack music. This is the cantata version that became the standard way people heard the music.

7. 1986: John Goberman, longtime producer of “Live from Lincoln Center” on PBS, decides to re-adapt Nevsky for concert performance…film projection accompanied by live orchestra and chorus. The original material from the 1938 film score is long since lost. Goberman engages composer/conductor/arranger William David Brohn, to do the reconstruction of the music. Brohn lines up the cantata version with the film, which accounts for about 35 minutes of the 55 minutes of music in the film. For the rest, Brohn reconstructs the missing stuff by ear. The result is a reconstruction of the soundtrack score that allows us to hear the music as Prokofiev imagined it should be heard.

Vaughn-Williams wrote his seventh symphony for a movie, and orchestras present it as a stand-alone work. Are there any other film scores of note that became stand-alone works?

NG: I can’t think of any complete film scores. But there are things like Bernstein’s “On the Waterfront” suite, which was made because Lenny was so irritated at how his music had been chopped up, faded-in, and faded-out in the film soundtrack.

The Battle On the Lake is a riot of music. What is particularly difficult about performing it and how do you prepare the DPO for it?

NG: It’s got a lot of notes, but it’s not particularly difficult. Or, let’s just say there’s a lot of other stuff that Prokofiev wrote in other pieces that’s a lot harder. “Nevsky” was created on a very short timeline, so I’m sure he wrote it specifically to (a) sound very impressive and (b) be fairly straightforward to play.

This music seems to look back to Tchaikovsky and other late Russian romantics. Did Prokofiev write anything else this lyrical?

NG: Prokofiev could write whatever he pleased. He had some serious chops! I don’t really hear all that much Tchaikovsky in the score (well, maybe a little in the sack of Pskov scene and the battle aftermath) but if you hear that, maybe it’s there!

~Pat Suarez

#alexander nevsky #sergei eisenstein #prokofiev #dayton

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entergamingxp · 5 years ago

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Halo: Reach’s remaster is OK

This week’s arrival of Halo: Reach on Xbox One, Windows Store and Steam is a highly significant release. Nine years after its Xbox 360 debut, it has finally been added to the Master Chief Collection with all last-gen Bungie and 343 titles now available to Xbox One users. It’s also available on PC as part of a scheduled, episodic roll-out of Halo titles – and it’s the first full franchise release to hit the platform since 2004. It’s a big deal then, but how does it improve on the original and are there any problems with the conversion?

I’ve been really looking forward to this, simply because as the final Bungie release in the series, Reach is simply an incredible game that’s just as brilliant to play today. Its single-player component is deeply evocative of everything that made Halo: Combat Evolved a milestone achievement. There’s that sense of ambience and enchantment from its beautifully designed alien structures and the sheer scale of its outdoor environments. Then there’s its incredible soundtrack, of course – and all before we consider the actual gameplay mechanics, which still feel superb. It’s Bungie at the top of its game and it’s frankly unmissable.

So how can we improve on such a wonderful piece of work? Well, the increased processing power of today’s hardware gives us plenty of avenues for an even better Reach experience. The first and most immediate difference in the remaster is the frame-rate. The inconsistent and often chugging performance level of the Xbox 360 release was eventually cleaned up to a nigh-on locked 30fps via its back-compat release but this new port goes the extra mile, targeting 60fps instead. On PC, you can technically go higher, but the situation is somewhat complex there – and I’m not sure going beyond 60 is actually a good idea.

Thankfully, at 60fps at least, animation works beautifully – perfectly synchronised with the target frame-rate – but there are some caveats. The first would be the camera movement in cutscenes: more often than not it is 60fps, but sometimes it can stutter. Motion seems to be running out of step with the refresh rate in some scenarios – so while the renderer updates (as registered by our frame-rate analysis tools), actual movement can lag behind. It looks odd and hints at further issues to come for PC users.

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An extended video deep dive into The Master Chief Collection remaster of Halo: Reach.

Beyond frame-rate, the next big upgrade is resolution. Reach originally operated at a sub-HD 1152×720, using a very early form of temporal super-sampling anti-ailasing that gave 2x SSAA in static scenes but exhibited egregious ghosting in motion. Pixel-counts are boosted to 1080p on Xbox One and full 4K on Xbox One X, backed up by a simple post-process AA solution that seems to have issues on edge-smoothing anything other than static detail. Of course, PC lets you run at any resolution you desire, though 21:9 resolutions see more limited support in cutscenes (don’t worry too much though – gameplay is fine).

The added clarity allows us to finally appreciate so many of the details in Halo: Reach’s texture work – some of which are of a surprisingly high resolution. There is a little inconsistency here as some of the art is very definitely of its era, but that is the nature of the beast of playing an older game at a higher resolution than originally intended. Overall, you get to see so much more and combined with the quality of the design, Reach looks fantastic. That said, the way that detail is resolved into the distance depends on the version of the game you are playing. For example, texture filtering is low by default and can only be resolved on PC via forcing higher levels of anisotropic filtering in the GPU control panel.

PC users also have access to an enhanced graphics mode, which dramatically increases the distance at which models load in and pushes out LODs significantly. This really changes up so many areas of the game: some of the more aggressive LODs designed to maintain performance on Xbox 360 are irrelevant on today’s PC hardware and the Reach port removes this compromise from the equation. It’s just a shame that the Xbox One versions do not follow suit. Textures and models are not the only things that look better in the new versions of Reach: other aspects like water deformation physics also get a boost.

However, there are some differences that perhaps shouldn’t be there – especially in the post-process pipeline. Effects like ambient occlusion, bloom, depth of field, film grain and motion blur seem to adjust based on resolution. So, for example, the depth of field effect meant to blur with a width of, say, 10 pixels at sub-720p now blurs with the same width of 10 pixels at 4K instead, inherently lessening and compromising the intended effect. In short, the higher the resolution of the remaster, the less impactful the post-process effects are – and I really hope that this is addressed. Additionally, motion blur wasn’t particularly well implemented in Reach on Xbox 360, but I’m a little disappointed to see that rather than fix it for the Master Chief Collection, it’s seemingly been removed altogether.

I do have some other concerns about the Reach port – the most obvious being that some of the changes to audio result in a game that doesn’t sound as good as it should. I noticed it rather quickly with something not feeling right with how guns sound when firing and how they are mixed into the game. Gunshots are muffled and seem to have a different amount of reverb compared to the original game – and the overall sense is that Reach simply doesn’t sound like the original release. And if you watch the video embedded on this page, maybe you’ll agree with me that it actually sounds worse.

Performance-wise, things aren’t quite as they should be either. We put Xbox One S and Xbox One X side-by-side by using online co-op, where the six teraflop GPU in the enhanced machine does a pretty good job of maintaining 60fps, with most of the drops coming from streaming in new areas. Hitches and stutters manifest, which are fairly infrequent and not really a big deal. You get drops into the mid-50s that seem to clear up fairly quickly, but it’s interesting to note that in big firefights, the X can still drop frames.

In these exact scenes the Xbox One S is doing much worse, dropping into the middle 40s and maintaining sub-60fps frame-rates long into these sequences – performance here just isn’t hitting the target, something that occurs often on the S. In some scenes, I noted a like-for-like increase of around 20 per cent in X performance compared to the vanilla unit, which sits on top of the 4x increase to resolution. I suspect that the 31 per cent increase to CPU clocks on the X may be a crucial factor in ironing out many of the S’s performance problems.

PC-wise, I’d say that achieving a near-flawless 60fps is eminently achievable on just about any gaming PC – as you might imagine when recommended specs for 4K gameplay are nothing more than an Nvidia GTX 770. The only really bumps in the frame-time you see on most PCs will be a one frame drop when the game hits a checkpoint and saves – that is it, otherwise it’s pretty much perfect.

This performance analysis screenshot is taken from one of the more taxing areas. Even with 4x the pixel count, the Xbox One X is significantly smoother – though still far from perfect.

Moving beyond 60fps is problematic, however, and doesn’t really work as it should. As far as I can tell, all game animations max out at 60fps, so if you’re running at 120fps, for example, animation only updates every other frame. Mouse movement and LOD culling seem to be the only aspects of the game that do actually operate above 60fps and even then, these aspects don’t seem to update in sync with the rendering, creating an uneven pacing of movement and looking jittery in motion. You will get better input latency, but it will not be linear or correct – and in my opinion this non-linear motion looks worse than properly paced motion at 60fps. This is a bit of an issue when the game runs so well on so many different rigs and is capable of so much more – yes, you can technically run the game unlocked but in reality, only 60fps actually looks decent.

In summary, I’d say that there’s a solid base here but Reach requires a fair amount of work to get the remaster into a really good place. First of all, the post-process pipeline should scale correctly with resolution as opposed to diminishing in effectiveness the higher you push the pixel count. I’d also like to see motion blur restored and improved in quality, along with an in-game toggle for players that would prefer not to use it. Next up, audio doesn’t sound correct – I was really surprised to hear effects that are more muffled than the original Xbox 360 release.

Then there’s performance, which also needs a push. In prior Master Chief Collection releases on Xbox One, we’ve seen improvements to frame-rate arrive over time with a tighter lock to 60 frames per second – and I really hope that the developers can revisit Reach to iron out the stutters and skips, and generally improve the turnout on both X and especially S consoles. PC runs beautifully at 60fps but I’d describe the experience on anything above that as completely broken. It needs a rethink.

In summary, as a PC gamer primarily, I do appreciate this release. The quality of the game itself is – and has always been – absolutely fantastic, and the chance to experience it at 60fps with a high resolution is a real treat. But it really needs to be better – the legacy of Halo, the quality of Reach itself and the potential from a remaster practically demands it. Preserving games for the future – especially on PC – means replicating them as they were in all the places where it matters, while improving them at the same time based on the scalability of today’s hardware and beyond. Perhaps this may sound overly harsh in some respects, but this is the Halo remaster that will persist for years or even decades to come – and while the foundation is solid overall, there are clearly issues here that need attention.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/halo-reachs-remaster-is-ok/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=halo-reachs-remaster-is-ok

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vrsystem-us · 5 years ago

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TOP 5: Best VR Headset 2019

with dozens of VR headsets coming out each year how can you know which ones will provide the ultimate experience and which ones you should avoid among countless features how can you possibly know which ones are relevant well in this video we break down the top five VR headsets on the market this year based on price versus performance and situations they will be used in we'll be taking a look at products in every budget range so regardless of whether you've got a few bucks to spare and want the best value or are looking for the best of the best we'll have an option for you so if you're interested in finding out which VR headset will be the best for you stay tuned as always all the links to all the products mention in this video will be in the description down below we always keep the description up-to-date with information we may not get a chance to mention in this video we also update the description down below with links to find the best price on each product so for the most up-to-date information along with updated prices be sure to check out the description the products mentioned in this video are in no exact order so be sure to stay tuned till the end so you don't miss anything number five on our list is HTC vive one of the best consumer VR headsets on the market at the moment HTC vive really has a lot to offer first of all with the purchase of this system you get free content a two-month free trial of vive point subscription this headset really makes the gaming experience completely immersive with realistic graphics true to life movement HD haptic feedback and directional audio vive seriously stepped up when it comes to motion tracking as it is incredibly precise the 360 degree controller and headset work in sync to cover your every movement to the millimeter unlike with most other headsets with this one you won't be limited to your seat this VR has two base stations that enable you to play while seated standing or in any space that is up to 15 feet long and 15 feet wide and good news for all the gamers out there this headset is powered by steam VR which means that you can enjoy more than 2,800 games from Steam plus everything else you like about this platform on the one hand this VR headset is really amazing the gaming experience is comparable it comes with 6dof controllers it has room scale tracking it is amazingly comfortable the interface is wonderfully intuitive and the high resolution is really noticeable as an improvement in visual clarity on the other hand it does have some flaws the cable is rather bulky and a potential tripping hazard this headset can be rather hard on the neck and the back and the price is on the high end of the spectrum number four on our list is oculus go made to be independent from a phone or a computer this VR headset did almost everything right the optics offer crystal clarity 3d graphics are state-of-the-art and the 3d sound will help you to immerse yourself completely regardless of whether you're playing a game or watching a TV show this oculus headset enables you to meet up with friends from all over the world in a virtual reality so you can watch concerts or live sports events together when it comes to content oculus offers more than 1,000 different games social applications and experiences that you can download to your go incredibly light this VR headset isn't just portable but also super easy to use no wires means no hassle the controller is also simple and learning how to use it will be effortless since the spatial audio drivers are built-in there's no need for tangled headphones the sound will be dramatic enough without them but for those who prefer using headphones this headset also has a three-and-a-half millimeter audio jack on the one hand this VR headset has some serious advantages it works without a phone or a computer it has a large VR app library the setup is super simple the image quality is great it comes with a motion controller 3d sound modeling is simply outstanding and it's super lightweight on the other hand it does come with some small disadvantages as well its motion tracking is limited it doesn't support six degrees of freedom the battery life is just two hours storage isn't expandable and there's no killer app number three on our list is Samsung gear VR our choice for the best budget VR headset if you're trying out VR for the first time getting the best budget VR headset is a great idea you won't overspend so if you don't like the experience you will not have wasted a lot of money it is high quality so if you do like it you can explore many games and different experiences also if you just want in an expensive gift for a kid this is a great idea this VR headset comes with an intuitive controller that can drop select point and drag this Samsung gear offers hundreds of experiences and games from the oculus as well as a bunch of games from the Google Play Store you can play games watch shows paint and VR and virtually chat and meet up with friends this headset allows you to enjoy 2d 3d and 360 degree content at any place and anytime light and simple to use this offers an interesting immersive experience although this is a budget headset you don't have to worry it's performance is well above other budget models on the one hand you will love using this VR headset the controller is excellent and very well made the visuals are detailed and crisp the voice command is interesting the interface is intuitive head-tracking is amazing and it is comfortable to wear during long gaming sessions on the other hand even the best products have some flaws you have to have one of supported Samsung phones in order to use this the controller isn't rechargeable the headset has no room movement tracking and there aren't that many games so you're very limited in that respect if you're interested in updated pricing or going more in depth on some features of any of the items mentioned in this video be sure to check out the links below and if you're interested in staying up to date with the best products on the market be sure to hit the subscribe button number two on our list is oculus rift this isn't just a headset this is a full virtual reality system that has it all ultra low latency tracking offers an incredible experience while the controllers bring your hands into the virtual reality perfectly with these you can interact with the virtual world completely naturally without glitches or mistakes with this product from oculus you get six free titles Robo recall quill medium toybox Lucky's tale and dead and buried snug and comfortable to wear for longer periods of time the resolution can be mind-blowing if your graphics card and RAM are up to par and the sound really makes you feel like you're in the virtual world instead of our own this oculus has attached headphones so you won't be able to hear anything from the outside world true and complete immersion once you try this VR headset out you'll understand why some people dream of living in virtual reality you will duck turn move and feel as if the adventure you're in is completely real on the one hand this VR headset has some strong positive sides the touch controllers feel natural in your hands they are lightweight provide smooth and accurate motion control which helps make the overall experience truly immersive when it comes to content the oculus rift can do everything play movies 360 videos games and much more on the other hand it does have some flaws that might stop you from buying it it is suggested that you use this in an area that has a surface of 7 feet by 5 feet which isn't something that everyone has also if you want to use the oculus rift you need a high quality gaming PC if you want it to work properly number one on our list is HTC vive pro our choice for the best overall VR headset the vive pro is one of the best overall VR headsets money can buy at this moment HTC really showed that they value their customers input on this one everything that was wrong with previous models is fixed here if you're truly serious about VR this is the headset you should get first of all they enhance the graphics with super rich colors and unbelievably sharp details the resolution this headset offers is 28 80 by 1660 and 615 PPI the movement in this VR is just as natural as in real life and the controller in the headset track your movements from the floor to the ceiling precise to a millimeter with its high resolution sound and high impedance headphones with noise cancellation you will literally feel the sound as you use the headset what's especially interesting is the fact that this headset allows you to define your own play space as long as it isn't bigger than 20 by 20 feet on the one hand this VR headset is really amazing this is one of the most comfortable VR headsets to date the image is perfectly clear crisp and realistic and the built-in headphones provide an amazing surround sound experience on the other hand it does have flaws that might change your mind and make you go for a different model from this list it only has a display port connection the refresh rate is 90 Hertz the foam cushions aren't moisture proof and the price tag is rather high alright guys that is all for this video hope you guys like the video if you guys did please go ahead and give it a like if you're new to the channel and you liked the video consider subscribing we do our best to keep you up to date with the best products on the market right now so if you want to know what the best gear out there is go ahead and hit that subscribe button be sure to check out the description for links to find the most up-to-date pricing on all the products mentioned in this video hope you guys enjoyed the video hope everyone has a great day and until next time I will see you guys later

https://youtu.be/8TLcaxIfkmc

#vr system #vr headset #headset

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bestvrsystem-com · 5 years ago

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TOP 5: Best VR Headset 2019

https://youtu.be/8TLcaxIfkmc

#Best Vr headset #best vr system

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samanthasroberts · 6 years ago

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5 Accidental X-Rated Subliminal Messages That Are Everywhere

If you’re anything like us, you can’t help but see penises in everything: in clouds, in buildings, even in men’s underwear. People can’t seem to help but create phallic symbols, almost as if dicks secretly run the entire world. And dick imagery can pop up in the most awkward places. Pay enough attention to anything, no matter how mundane, and, as if by magic, a wang will appear out of the ether.

Here are some of those special miracles.

Halftime Shows Are Full Of Dicks

Halftime shows are as much an American sporting tradition as Gatorade or lasting brain damage, and apart from the occasional wardrobe malfunction, they’re usually wholesome affairs — pop stars lip-sync to their biggest hits, and cheerleaders twirl around while trying to ignore some of the drunkest pick-up lines ever shouted in a public place. But sometimes all the raging testosterone from the game bursts over to the halftime entertainment, resulting in secret dicks.

When Prince was asked to play the halftime slot of the 2007 Super Bowl, it remains unknown what kind of family fun the organizers expected from the human personification of sex froth. Viewers tuning in for a little taste of “Purple Rain” or “1999” were instead treated to a David Copperfield-esque magic silhouette curtain, specially lit to show the diminutive music legend jerking his guitar dick.

That’s the risk you take when hiring a man with more thrusting masculinity in his lithe elvish body than the whole defensive line. But a phallic faux pas can even happen with the nerdiest of all sporting entertainers: the marching band. To be sure, nothing is more erotic than a bunch of people dressed up like nutcrackers hammering out the Batman theme, but marching bands are generally tightly regimented paragons of discipline. Yet even they can break formation and fall face-first into a pile of accidental wangs. Like these rhythmic dweebs who wanted to celebrate their Kansas State team by recreating their beloved Jayhawk mascot next to the iconic Starship Enterprise …

Kansas State Marching Band

… but ended up forming a fiercely erect cock angling towards a bird’s open beak:

Deadspin Boldly going where no man should go.

Even highbrow institutions like Harvard can’t control themselves. While battling it out with the University Of Pennsylvania, the marching band claimed they wanted to honor their opponent by forming “Penn ’15.” All they did, however, was highlight the inherent floppiness of a human font:

SB Nation Still not the worst incident involving a penis at a Pennsylvania college.

Weather And Traffic Reporters Draw Peens All The Time

If there’s one place that should be a respite for all the wang-typhoons swirling around in the world, it’s the news. The journalists on TV bring us serious, often tragic stories, and do so with great composure, grace, and the highest degree of professionalism.

Except for the weather presenters, who occasionally just scrawl floppy dongs all over every available surface.

It’s not their fault, really. It’s their job to track the weather, and sometimes the weather can take some pretty turgid shapes. When that happens, a tornado report can take quickly turn into a dire message warning people of a far more terrifying event.

Similarly, a New Jersey website tried to warn residents of a potential flood risk by unleashing a massive unsheathed poonhammer on the entire Eastern seaboard:

And those worried about illegal immigration from neighboring Mexico have reason to be alarmed, as Zeus’ massive dick and balls are in the process of breaching the southern border crossing:

Apparently you can’t even tune in for traffic updates without correspondents finger-tracing blocks-long hard-ons that will most definitely jam up your commute.

The moral of the story is: Don’t give presenters interactive screens and expect them not to accidentally dip a giant boner in your kid’s breakfast cereal.

Advertisers Deal Heavily In Accidental Dicks

There’s a long history of people slipping subliminal sexual innuendos into commercials, hence the age-old mantra “sex sells.” Unless, of course, the subliminal sexuality was totally accidental, in which case it does the exact opposite of sell.

With so many heavy hitters and specialty craft brewers in the beer industry, it can be awful hard to set yourself apart from the pack. One brewer in Costa Rica thought that having a giant grilled sausage plastered on a billboard on the side of the road would get people thinking about delicious barbecues featuring their refreshing beer:

Unless they were driving on the other side of the road, which makes it look like a giant cock is peering from behind the billboard like a Scooby-Doo detective.

Restaurant advertising is a phallic landmine as well. Ever noticed how a chef’s hat kind of looks like an elongated bropedo? We didn’t either, until the heroes behind this Virginia bistro’s logo showed us the light:

Market Place swears it had no idea when it chose the logo, thinking it was just a mustachioed chef greeting customers from the window. Instead, customers can only see a winged dick dive-bombing the soup d’jour.

Meanwhile, a Brazilian university, meaning to unveil a logo consisting of an ornate tiered tower with a gorgeous red sun rising in the sky behind it to commemorate an Oriental Studies institute on their campus, wound up accidentally shoving those good intentions directly up its own ass:

Obviously, because no institute of higher learning wants to be known for telling its Oriental Studies department to go boof itself, they quickly withdrew the logo. But the internet is forever.

Women’s Hair Products Look Like Sex Toys

Hair is not generally considered to be an erogenous zone, which is why the Kama Sutra doesn’t have an entry called the “Mounting Ponytail.” Yet it seems that the maniacs who come up with hair styling tools have finally given up on finding new ways to design their feminine products without throwing a few dicks into the mix.

“Hot Buns” is ostensibly a helpful hair styling tool for women, but it is so clearly a giant knobby dildo that not even its product demonstrators can deny it.

Similarly, the Pearl Curling Wand looks like what old timey psychiatrists used to get rid of hysteria. Now, we understand that there’s only one shape a curling iron can take — that of a thick, powerful penis — and we’re even willing to forgive the many sexual images that a “pearl wand” conjures up. But if this thing didn’t heat up to scorching temperatures, we don’t think this would see much upstairs hair action. Hell, it’s basically a multitool.

Buildings All Over The World Are Secretly Giant Dicks

Thanks to Google Earth, the world has gotten used to looking at their buildings from above, like a winged cartographer. Which is bad news for some architects and construction engineers, who thought the biggest threat to people finding out they’ve erected skyscrapers that look like skyscraping erections was Groupons for helicopter lessons.

That’s London’s soon-to-be largest apartment block: Spire London. From the bottom, it looks like a giant eyesore, but from the top, it looks like it’ll actually poke your eye out. The Spire London promises to be the highest residential building in Western Europe, so Londoners can soon enjoy watching pilots desperately pulling up in order to avoid crashing into the tip.

The Supreme Court of India also suffers from an acute case of phallisitis. The court, with its bushy garden and squat features, perfectly captures the shriveled old dicks gathering in this building to uphold their archaic rules.

Meanwhile, residents of an otherwise-lovely middle-class neighborhood in northern England have begun to fear for the value of their homes since it was revealed that their cul-de-sac is a bit heavy in the sac department:

And while residents might be miffed that they’re now living on the wrong side of Shaftesbury Lane, at least their town’s entire tourism isn’t based on the revelation that their little canal paradise kind of looks like an anatomically correct penis with a healthy urethra:

Yet it’s quite easy to notice that a rectangle with a few round edges looks a bit like a penis. So how about a building complex that looks like a naked man squatting, ass agape, with a flaccid dick drooping pendulously down between his bulging red balls? A sprawling health center in Ontario, Canada offers just that:

But sometimes, there’s no need for human ineptitude; nature provides. For the low sum of $122,000, you can buy land on a 42-acre island near Fiji with some pretty stunning scenery …

… which you can view from both the head and the scrote of this shy little nub of an island:

Justin occasionally writes funny stuff that’s not about dicks here. Tweet at him if you need a used Dodge Durango.

For more genitals than you could’ve possibly hoped for, check out 5 Inspiring Religions That Worship Penises and Boobs on Things That Don’t Normally Have Boobs.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out The 7 Most Baffling Pieces of Art (Made With Genitals), and other videos you won’t see on the site!

Source: http://allofbeer.com/5-accidental-x-rated-subliminal-messages-that-are-everywhere/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2018/12/13/5-accidental-x-rated-subliminal-messages-that-are-everywhere/

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adambstingus · 6 years ago

Text

5 Accidental X-Rated Subliminal Messages That Are Everywhere

Here are some of those special miracles.

Halftime Shows Are Full Of Dicks

Kansas State Marching Band

… but ended up forming a fiercely erect cock angling towards a bird’s open beak:

Deadspin Boldly going where no man should go.

SB Nation Still not the worst incident involving a penis at a Pennsylvania college.

Weather And Traffic Reporters Draw Peens All The Time

Except for the weather presenters, who occasionally just scrawl floppy dongs all over every available surface.

Similarly, a New Jersey website tried to warn residents of a potential flood risk by unleashing a massive unsheathed poonhammer on the entire Eastern seaboard:

And those worried about illegal immigration from neighboring Mexico have reason to be alarmed, as Zeus’ massive dick and balls are in the process of breaching the southern border crossing:

Apparently you can’t even tune in for traffic updates without correspondents finger-tracing blocks-long hard-ons that will most definitely jam up your commute.

The moral of the story is: Don’t give presenters interactive screens and expect them not to accidentally dip a giant boner in your kid’s breakfast cereal.

Advertisers Deal Heavily In Accidental Dicks

Unless they were driving on the other side of the road, which makes it look like a giant cock is peering from behind the billboard like a Scooby-Doo detective.

Obviously, because no institute of higher learning wants to be known for telling its Oriental Studies department to go boof itself, they quickly withdrew the logo. But the internet is forever.

Women’s Hair Products Look Like Sex Toys

“Hot Buns” is ostensibly a helpful hair styling tool for women, but it is so clearly a giant knobby dildo that not even its product demonstrators can deny it.

Buildings All Over The World Are Secretly Giant Dicks

But sometimes, there’s no need for human ineptitude; nature provides. For the low sum of $122,000, you can buy land on a 42-acre island near Fiji with some pretty stunning scenery …

… which you can view from both the head and the scrote of this shy little nub of an island:

Justin occasionally writes funny stuff that’s not about dicks here. Tweet at him if you need a used Dodge Durango.

For more genitals than you could’ve possibly hoped for, check out 5 Inspiring Religions That Worship Penises and Boobs on Things That Don’t Normally Have Boobs.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out The 7 Most Baffling Pieces of Art (Made With Genitals), and other videos you won’t see on the site!

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/5-accidental-x-rated-subliminal-messages-that-are-everywhere/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/181062584112

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