#my biggest criticism of matt actually is that he is sometimes too nice so it's BIZARRE to see people paint him this cruel

[utilitycaster]

absolutely buckwild to see people like "um, Matt Mercer is weaving an incredibly intricate tale full of complex themes that are clearly beyond your comprehension. He will be doing this by throwing nearly all the past player characters of his closest friends under the bus."

[cadaceus]

C2E141

One last time, y’all. This campaign and these characters have meant so much to me, and this seven hour finale was definitely an emotional rollercoaster. (Yes, I shed actual tears at one point, which rarely happens to me with media. But this is a special occasion.) These liveblogs are nearly as long as the episode itself, so grab a snack! With that being said, here are my very last liveblogs for Campaign 2 of Critical Role. As always, major spoilers below, so beware. 

- Veth taking a level in Wizard, god I am really gonna cry ten minutes into this thing...  😭

- We got our first “stay with us” to Essek, I am emo...

- I was fully not expecting to say goodbye to Frumpkin, but now I’m on the verge of tears... farewell dear fey friend (Marisha saying “that wasn’t supposed to be what broke me” me too me too)

- “You’re a good person.” “I could be.” “You are.”

- “I think you’re a good person” I never thought that I’d hear Beau say that about Essek and this genuinely might be what breaks me... she thinks he’s a good person.... redemption is possible.... maybe love is real....

- If I end up crying over wizards, look away

- Jester lifting up Fjord’s arm to snuggle beneath it made me say “awww” out loud  🥺

- VETH GOING FOR A DIP IN THE POND, I AM GENUINELY SO PROUD OF HER

- “Aahhh!! It’s me! Your wife!” I am going to miss Jester’s sending so much

- Okay that accent bit was so funny, I am going to miss all of them so much

- REAL MOLLY IS BACK REAL MOLLY IS BACK REAL MOLLY IS BACK

- Oh but he doesn’t remember them... and Yasha is trying so hard to help him remember, it’s so so sweet 

- Something about the way he said “Tealeaf’s nice” made me tear up... I was neutral on Mollymauk early campaign because I went into things knowing that he passed away, but this whole conversation with the Mighty Nein is So Much. Also “Kingsley Tealeaf” 

- “Everyone should have a brother” as someone with three of them, I vouch for this  🥺

- a) I love Marion Lavorre (and Jester ofc!) so very much and b) I can’t believe that Jester’s parent trap actually worked??

- “I do not think Exandria is ready for how you’re going to change it” got to me... and it’s also so true. jester has already changed the world just by being kind.

- Good bye Marion... I love and will miss you so much! (And many thanks to Laura and Matt for creating an agoraphic single mother who raised a wonderful child <3)

- Beau and Jester teasing Marion for having a complicated relationship with Babenon reminds me of Caleb saying he has a complicated relationship with Essek...

- LEAVE CALEB ALON E FUOIKJLKGKNL 

- THIS IS ....... SO MUCH WORSE THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.

- Caleb’s biggest trauma(s) coming back to haunt him, I am genuinely going to cry I’m not ready for this I’m not okay

- Beau saying to Jester “Thanks, cutie” I love themmmmm

- INITIATIVE AAGJASKHDKJ AAAAAHHHH

- Essek’s Gravity Sinkhole did nothing? uhhhhh Mr Stark...

- EADWULF???? HELLO?????

- Essek using his entire turn to save Caleb last battle 🤝 Caleb using his entire turn to save Essek this battle

- ASTRID???? I TRUSTED YOU??? WE ALL TRUSTED YOU????

- Another Counterspell chain sdfdghjkdl wizards !!!

- “It’s just business” is literally the Neutral Evil line, it always gives me chills when any character says it

- This hurts more after Liam confirming on Twitter that Astrid/Caleb/Eadwulf were all three a romantic item... please stop hurting Caleb, you loved him  😭

- THE FJORD VS EADWULF SWORD FIGHT IS SO CINEMATIC I LOVE IT HERE ACTUALLY

- Essek taking every opportunity to pull Caleb to safety makes me so emotional...  😭

- “You’re not the first student I’ve had to put down” I am burning with my anger for you, old man 

- THE DISPEL WORKED LET’S GO CALEB.....

- Remember when Matt said that Essek doesn’t openly show concern/emotion? And now he’s saying “I’m scared” in front of his closest friends and his worst enemies.... growth my love.....

- BEAU AND VETH LETS GO CHAOS CREW LETS MF GO BABEYYYY!!!

- FJORD COUNTERSPELLING THE DIMENSION DOOR..... and Matt having him describe it.... is this taking the place of a “HDYWTDT” *eyes emoji*

- CALEB GOING DOWN NO, THANK GOD FOR THAT DEATH WARD

- Veth’s illusion of Caleb’s parents flanking Caleb in the flames.... that got me too, Liam

- “Stay down.” yeah, okay, that was sexy

- ASTRID BEING THE ONE TO ACTIVATE THE COLLAR IS LITERALLY POETIC JUSTICE... Trent being beaten by the student who stuck with him longest I love this so much, she deserved that moment honestly

- Break Time, AKA Emma Makes Her Weekly Mug Brownie Interlude

- Sometimes I feel like “death is too good for you” is a copout, but in this case it fits so well, I want this mf’s reputation destroyed and the entire operation exposed and overthrown let’s goooo

- “I loved you both so much”.... Astrid and Eadwulf walking away.... oh, Blumendrei... I know this is not the end of your story. What’s past is prologue, loves

- The Empire Siblings are gonna burn down the whole system because it’s the system that enables individual corruption... I am so fulfilled by this, god i love them

- “I love you too” OH MY GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, FJORESTER ARE THE CUTEST FOR REAL

- Jester and Essek’s friendship still means so much to me btw just in case anyone wanted a check-in

- Veth giving the flask to Kingsley!! Good for her, good for her!

- OH Blumenduo are back already! I truly thought that was going to be their last appearance of the Campaign, why is this taking me more by surprise than Trent’s appearance

- “[Caleb] notes how similar Eadwulf and Fjord are” this is Widofjord adjacent... this episode we have gotten Widomauk-adjacent, Widojest-adjacent, and Widofjord-adjacent (and Blumentrio ofc), now come through Shadowgast and we can get a full Bingo on the “Bisexual Maelstrom” card

- Speaking of relationships, I am lowkey into the Fjord/Jester/Kingsley dynamic LOL no one look at me I’m in hiding

- I’M NOT READY TO SAY GOODBYE TO VETH AND CAD 😭 It makes sense and the fact that they have their families back is beautiful but also consider this: I’m sad and I will miss them 

- The goodbyes to Caduceus..... I am going to cry aren’t I?

- “If he’s anything like his mom, you won’t see him until it’s too late” Okay that made me giggle, I love Veth and I love Luc and I love their little family

- IS ESSEK LEAVING TOO? THAT’S GONNA BE WHAT BREAKS ME ISN’T IT

- If Essek leaves and we never see him again, getting a triple whammy of goodbyes I will be so incredibly sad, I cannot do this  😭

- If anyone is interested, no I am not doing well

- I was lowkey ready to get an Essek’s feelings for Caleb confirmation tonight, I guess it makes sense that we didn’t but I hope that this is not the last time we see Essek... I want to write another emo post about him and about how much he means to me but I will refrain

- CALEB BEING A TEACHER IS THE ENDGAME I WANT FOR HIM PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

- Wow, I really was not ready to see Caduceus and Essek go for some reason... I really wanted this Campaign to end on the image of the Mighty Nein together as all nine of them... I’m feeling so numb right now having to say goodbye  😭

- Oh, we’re in the epilogue now!

- When Fjord said “[the sea] is my favorite place to be” I genuinely felt that on a spiritual level... the ocean is home, it truly is and always will be for me as well

- “I CAST MODIFY MEMORY” FJORD LMAOOOOOOO

- Okay, that Widobrave ending is what made me shed tears for the first time this episode... not to be Personal but my biological brother graduates High School tomorrow, and for some reason this conversation just reminded me so much of me and him and now I’m emotional

- NOT THE SYPHILIS BANDITS DSYUHDFJKLSFJ;DS OKAY I NEEDED THAT LAUGH

- “I’d like to hear about your friend” Kingsley aww

- Beau giving Kingsley her first diary to help him realize who they all are is actually so perfectly fitting, I love that!

- “The other eight and I, yes” Caleb counting all nine of them again  😭

- CALEB BEING OFFERED AN ASSEMBLY SEAT WTF AAAHHH

- Oh shit, Astrid took the Assembly seat... I’m not sure how I feel about this, I feel so bad for her for having to stay in the system that abused her for so long and I would have loved to see her burn the whole thing down, but I hope that she at least has a sense of contentment with this title

- “I go where you go, baby” Beauyasha.... my darling loves....

- Beau’s dad??? But also Beau being the one with power over her father is so Good, I’m glad that she got justice on that front as well!

- This talk with Artagan... “I didn’t want you to be a god. I wanted you to be my friend.” and in the process my love you created divinity... maybe divinity is the friends we made along the way

- OH SHIT WE ARE GETTING ALL THE VANDRAN LORE TONIGHT I’M READY LET’S GO LET’S GO

- VANDRAN AND AVANTIKA WERE AN ITEM???

- Wait crack theory: Sabian was a half elf right? Could he be the son of Vandren and Avantika? Or is that too much of a stretch? 

- Vandran going with them!!! Also I feel like that moment between Fjord and Vandran was lowkey a tease to a post-campain Uk’otoa one shot and I am ready for it already 

- THIS BEAUYASHA MOMENT... “i’ve never known anyone as deeply as i know you” & “explore every bit of you in multiple ways ;)” & “your past doesn’t scare me, it only makes you beautiful” .... this is so much they are so much i love them so much

- “I will have you and then some” Beauyasha   😭

- I’m torn between “oh my god there’s still half an hour left?” and “how is there only half an hour left??”

- “You will let this Skyspear live at least?” oh my god so Yasha killed the last Skyspear then? Oof...

- YASHA GIVING ZUALA(’S GRAVE) THE BOOK OF FLOWERS, OH DEAR HEART

- And Beau’s talk to Zuala about being the luckiest woman alive and sacrifice.... 😭  

- PLANTING FLOWERS AT ZUALA’S GRAVE... “NO BETTER GRAVE MARKER” THIS IS MAKING ME SO EMOTIONAL, I KNOW I’VE SAID THIS A LOT THIS EPISODE BUT THIS TRULY IS SO BEAUTIFUL

- So... I may or may not be crying again

- Shadowgast with a steel chair??

- Caleb’s plan for saving his parents... it’s clear he has thought of this so much, oh my darling love  😭

- Caleb burning down his chance to change his past is so symbolic and something he really needed to do, it does make me emotional though

- The other book was him writing to his parents?? Oh bby boy  😭  

- While I would have loved for Caleb to open his own magic school (especially with Essek, or the Mighty Nein, or someone else as well), I am so pleased that he stays with Veth and that their friendship continues for the rest of their life because again: they mean so so much to me, and in a way they remind me of me and my biological brother (which I never realized before this episode) and yeah. They just make me Emo

- Also. Caleb being a professor was my Number One Endgame Hope for him and the fact that it came true is just so surreal in the best way possible. I’m so used to being robbed of happy endings. The fact that the Mighty Nein all got theirs makes me incredibly happy. A story does not have to be sad to be impactful. Happy stories and happy endings, especially during a time period of tumultuous real life circumstances, have just as much value and meaning and they always will. Caleb is teaching the next generation magic, and he is teaching them to be Good, and he is nurturing them, and that just means so much

- MATT CRYING IS GONNA GET TO ME

- “Let’s do it again” Please, let’s.

- Okay, everyone. I made it all seven hours in one piece with surprisingly minimal tears (though who knows, this might all sink in tomorrow.) I already wrote my thoughts earlier today about how much the Mighty Nein mean to me and how much this show and these characters have kept me holding on during quarantine and today... I’m still not ready to let them go, but I know that I can always revisit to say hello and to say thank you for changing me. Until then though... I love you all more than you could ever know. And for the last time of Campaign 2... is it Thursday yet?

Good night 💗

[rhapscdcs]

im just going to do some for fun!

1. A friend of mine drew my oc as mollymauk and after a few months of contemplation i finally started campaign 2 in january

2. I listen to the podcasts most often bc i do a lot of driving, but i prefer to be able to watch the videos to see their reactions and everything in more detail.

3. c2e1

4. im finally on episode 88 of campaign 2, after months of binging and a little break in between

5. My biggest binge was episodes 1-30, at first i was watching about 3 in a day aha

6. no, but i’d very much like too if someone is in need of a rogue or a cleric in a critical role themed campaign.. Heyyyyyy

7, 8, 9, 10. all of them are no:’)

11. Yee

12. Usually alone aha

13. Sometimes, usually I listen while im driving but if i’m watching it i have a hard time multitasking aha

14. i just keep watching, can’t say i do much aha

15. not that i can really think of, no

16. i mean, i guess for fun i’ll break out jester’s accent aha

17. i watched it a lot in school which was nice

18. *blinks* uhh im sure i’ve learnt some but i cant think of any

19. I CANT PICK

20. dani(???) i very much appreciate critical recap, it helped me a lot when i was speed binging and perhaps jumping around in the campaign a bit

21. i haven’t watched, but whoever Liam played (Vex? Vax?? Whichever one he was) looks like my type of character

22. caleb and molly, jester and caduceus are up there too! but i really love them all

24. shakaste! i love khary, and every time he’s on the show i adore his character

26. Obann, i really enjoyed the boss fight with Obann the punished.

27. During the Obann the punished fight when Matt got to ask himself ‘how do i want to do this?’ Because the enthusiasm of the party was amazing

28. LORENZO

29. mollymauk, man

30. fjolly, widomauk, fjorclay, shadowgast, beauyashajester

31. jester and molly and yasha and molly :(((

32. Do caleb and trent count? Every interaction they have makes me so tense and it’s really well done

33. im not even there yet in the campaign, but i love caduceus’ family

34. the hour of honour (c2e24), i loved everything about hupperdook and the whole episode was so much fun

35. their fight against the gear warden was cool

36. the cobalt soul

37. magicians judge is super rad, but i also love the wand of smiles because of the chaos it can cause

38. cats ire is lots of fun, i just love the idea of big magical toe beans thank you

39. matt’s sound effects are all honestly great, but his monster noises are so cool

40. "You listen to me. I know what you are talking about. I know. And the difference between you and I is thinner than a razor. I know what it means to have other people complicate your desires and wishes. And I was like you. Was. I know what a fool I have been for years," and I'm looking at him as if I am looking in a mirror. "You didn't account for us. Good. That is life. Shit hits you sideways in life and no one is prepared. No one is ready. These people changed me. These people can change you. You were not born with venom in your veins. You learned it. You learned it. You have a rare opportunity here, Thelyss. One chance to save yourself, and we are offering it. And I am.”

41. uhhhhh

42. im not sure?

43. His Nord VPN ads always amuse me to no end

44. cinderbrush!!

45. I actually, haven’t watched much?

46. Hupperdook, Nicodranas and Xhorhas

47. Frumpkin, and poor Sprinkle

48. anything beau does

49. im not sure, though seducing shop keepers comes in handy when the party is broke

50. honestly?? im not rlly sure, i project a whole lot on caleb but idk man??

50 Critter Asks

Send me a number to answer, or reblog to invite your followers to ask you!

General

1. How did you first discover Critical Role?

2. Do you prefer the livestreams, VODs/posts, or podcasts?

3. What was the first CR episode you watched/listened to?

4. What episode have you reached in each CR campaign, or how many times have you watched/listened to each campaign?

5. What has been your biggest CR binge?

6. Do you play in a D&D campaign inspired by CR or the Tal'Dorei/Wildemount guides?

7. Do you have any official CR merch?

8. Have you ever been to a CR liveshow?

9. Do you participate in any CR fan celebrations (Essek Week, Critmas, etc.)?

10. Have you ever spotted a fellow Critter out in the wild (via merch, cosplay, etc.)?

11. Have you become friends with any other Critters?

12. Do you watch/listen to CR alone or with others?

13. Do you do anything else while watching/listening to CR?

14. How do you cope with high tension in CR (stress-snacks, screaming into the chat void, skipping it, etc.)?

15. Are there any loose threads in any campaigns or one-shots/miniseries that you desperately wish would be resolved/addressed?

16. Have you picked up any mannerisms/sayings/speech from the CR cast or their characters (the Marisha perch, “toothy maw”, Jester’s accent, etc.)?

17. Has CR helped you get through any tough times (loss of a loved one, quarantine, etc.)?

18. What life lessons have you learned from CR?

Favorites

19. Who’s your favorite CR cast member (Matt, Laura, etc.)?

20. Who’s your favorite CR crew member (Dani, Maxwell, etc.)?

21. Who’s your favorite CR1 PC?

22. Who’s your favorite CR2 PC?

23. Who’s your favorite CR1 NPC?

24. Who’s your favorite CR2 NPC?

25. Who’s your favorite CR1 villain?

26. Who’s your favorite CR2 villain?

27. What’s your favorite “How do you want to do this?” moment?

28. What’s the most satisfying CR enemy defeat/death?

29. What’s the most devastating CR PC defeat/death?

30. What’s your favorite CR romantic/sexual relationship?

31. What’s your favorite CR platonic/friendly relationship?

32. What’s your favorite CR rivalry?

33. What’s your favorite CR familial (sibling, parent/child, etc.) relationship?

34. What’s your favorite CR downtime episode/scene?

35. What’s your favorite CR fight?

36. What’s your favorite CR group/organization (Darrington Brigade, Cerberus Assembly, etc.)?

37. What’s your favorite CR magic item?

38. What’s your favorite CR homebrew spell/reflavor (Wristpocket, Fortune’s Favor, Cat’s Ire, etc.)?

39. What’s the coolest CR sound effect (the cork pop, monster sounds, etc.)?

40. What’s your favorite CR quote?

41. Who are all your favorite active Critters (artists, writers/meta analysts, cosplayers, gif makers, memers, livebloggers, community organizers, timestamp posters, stat trackers, etc.)?

42. What’s your favorite critrolestats statistic or other lore/fun fact?

43. What’s your favorite Sam ad?

44. What’s your favorite CR one-shot or miniseries (Honey Heist, Cinderbrush, etc.)?

45. What’s your favorite non-campaign CR content (All Work No Play, Handbooker Helper, etc.)?

46. What’s your favorite CR location (Vasselheim, the Lavish Chateau, etc.)?

47. Who’s your favorite CR companion (Doty, Frumpkin, etc.)?

48. What’s your favorite CR signature move (Bigby’s Hand, pop pop, etc.)?

49. What’s your favorite CR motif (chest stabs, seducing shopkeepers, etc.)?

50. What CR backstory/arc/moment resonates with you the most?

[scrawnydutchman]

Some Issues with Gravity Falls

 MAJOR KNITPICKING AHEAD! ALSO SPOILERS!

So here’s a joke for ya: who has two thumbs and missed out on one of the biggest animation bandwagons in recent years? THIS GUY! It took me a while to get around to this show for a number of reasons. Work, making my own animations, checking out other things, shear laziness, etc etc. But I finally got around to watching all of Gravity Falls; the revolutionary mystery show considered to be one of the best to hit television in recent years. So what did I think of it overall?

I think it was great . . . . if only a little . .  . problematic . . . at times.

Alright, now I can already hear the sharpening of pitchforks from here. With any luck it’ll be the Stan corporate brand known for falling apart instantly. Just know I actually like this show a lot. It’s visually stunning, especially the backgrounds and lighting and the animation on Bill Cipher. It features an immense talent in it’s voice acting cast including some of my favorite people like Matt Chapman, Justin Roiland, a cameo of Larry King and even a cameo from Louis C.K. (okay well . . . it was a lot cooler before I found out he’s a sexual harasser but y’know). It’s very funny, with consistently witty dialogue and characters. Especially Soos. Everything Soos says is genius.

Beyond that the mystery is very interesting, the conclusion is ultimately satisfying, and I genuinely like all of these characters. But that doesn’t mean this show is flawless, and since everybody praises this show for pretty much the same reasons and going more in depth on the good points would just be preaching to the choir, I want to draw emphasis to some issues I think are worth talking about. Because even for the very best shows, if it’s too sacred to criticize than it’s also too sacred to evolve. It’s important to accept how you could have done better so we can get even BETTER shows than Gravity Falls in the future. Anyhoo, I’ve stalled long enough. Let’s get into it.

1. More than a few fakeouts in consequences

So to many people this is a very “big stakes” sort of show, and in all fairness it isn’t hard to see why. The show literally ends with the world going to pure chaos for more than a few days and with some really morbid imagery such as a throne made of stonified people. And that’s honestly not even the creepiest image here. This show also has a lot of dramatic twists and turns such as the dilemma of whether or not Dipper will leave Mabel to pursue a career in paranormal research alongside his Grunkle Ford, whether or not Grunkle Stans memory is lost for good, whether or not Soos can cope with his father never being around, whether or not Mabel can take Waddles the Pig back home with her, etc etc. But the issue is this show has a tendency to imply consequences without completely following through with them. Stanley’s memory comes back to him in the end (which begs the question did Bill have a chance of surviving?). Soos went to go play catch with his dad in Mabel’s simulation, despite there being an entire episode prior dedicated to the lesson that if Soos’ dad couldn’t make the sacrifice to be there for him on his own than he isn’t worth the time (that episode is my favorite btw and the reason Soos is my favorite character). So it’s like he threw everything he learned in that episode out the window. Mabel has a scene where she has to tell Waddles to stay behind in Gravity Falls . . . only for her Grunkles to ensure he comes. But quite possibly the worst offender in this category is the whole thing about Dipper deciding to stay with Mabel and giving up his desire to become a paranormal investigator. The shows been teasing the idea of Dipper and Mabel being divided for a while, especially with the contrast between them and the Stan brothers. But the whole reason the Stan brothers were divided in the first place was because Stanley put his own needs before what his brother really wanted and, frankly deserved to have. Had he been honest with Ford about breaking his machine and giving him time to fix it, the whole Bill Cipher thing would’ve never happened and, even if they had to spend time apart, the tare between them wouldn’t have been as bad. Similarly, had Mabel just been more understanding of her brothers feelings the Weirdmaggedon would have never happened either. And honestly, I think the idea of the twins going their separate ways would have been a much realer message. Yes, family is important and yes, Dipper may act selfishly at times too. But a fact of real life is, no matter how tight you are with your family, it’s VERY rare for you to want to stay on the same path forever. Because Mabel and Dipper are very different people. They have different aspirations, different outlooks, different wants and needs. There’s nothing wrong with that and their differences don’t HAVE to divide them completely. They’ve proven that time and time again. But nope. Status quo is God. After Mabel’s selfishness literally left the world in ruin it’s DIPPER who ultimately makes the compromise in his own life dreams to set everything right. Considering how often Dipper makes compromises for her anyway (as pointed out by Bill Cipher) it honestly kind of left me bitter. It’s especially ironic because the whole point of Mabels fantasy world episode is getting Mabel to accept that time passes and happy moments in life can’t last forever . . but she ultimately gets what she wants anyway. You see what I mean by there being no real stakes?

Now, granted this is a Disney show and Disney has a reputation for fakeout deaths and implied consequences with no real follow through. Just look at their lineup of animated movies. But Gravity Falls actually has a reputation for being a very dramatic show, and consistently more adult than most childrens programming. It challenges a lot of kids sensibilities anyway, so it’s kind of disappointing that it falls back on some typical TV cliches of “maintain status quo” like tons of shows do. Also, I just think the whole idea of Dipper and Mabel staying together because they think wanting different paths will tare them apart is honestly kind of a bad message.

2. Some inconsistencies here and there

Okay, so I’m about to step into some knitpicky territory here. You’ve been warned. Inconsistencies between show episodes is really nothing new, and for that reason strong continuity is always praised. But Gravity Falls is a very unique case in that it’s narrative thrives on being consistent with all the things that have happened in the past. That’s why in the finale all the monsters of Gravity Falls and all the things that were foreshadowed come back in one big grand fight with Bill Cipher. There’s also clever little additions like how the time travel guy makes cameos in episodes prior to his first official appearance. So it’s obvious that small details are very important to the structure of the show. But unfortunately that’s kind of a double edged sword as it trains your audience to purposely look for bits of information only to find some things to the contrary. One that comes to mind for me is the finale when the Stan brothers change clothes to trick Bill Cipher. There’s a zoom in of the hand of Stanley wearing Fords clothes as he shakes Bill’s hand. The issue is . . . it still has six fingers somehow. And actually that’s a consistent detail for as long as Stanley is wearing Ford’s clothes. I’ve heard the argument that because it’s Ford’s gloves that’s why the extra appendage is there (which begs the question where do you get 6 fingered gloves?), but if that were the case it would have been a nice touch if they purposely made the pinky finger of the glove look limp, like there’s nothing in there. Would have been nice foreshadowing for the twist that’s coming.

*I wanted to put a gif here but didn’t know what I should pick. Settled with this.*

Beyond little things like that there’s also little character inconsistencies. Like in the episode “A Tale of Two Stans” Stanley tells Ford to stay away from his family so as to not put them in danger, only for Ford to start hanging out more with Dipper anyway and Stanley says nothing. Again, kind of knitpicky stuff and in any other show I’d probably be more forgiving of it, but this is the kind of show that demands this level of attention. 

Really, that’s all I got against this show. It’s still some of the best quality animation to hit the airwaves in sometime, and it gets many things right that a lot of shows don’t, either because they unfortunately aren’t handled with the most care by their network or because the creators didn’t take the best route they could. It definitely still deserves the praise it gets and it still delivers on a lot of what it promises, and it’s also just in general a lovably original idea. There are just some ways I wish it went instead.

[heathergoffrier]

8 Keys To Teach Kids To Say Thank You And Please When They're Young

How do you teach kids to say thank you, please, and to have good manners? Heather offers 8 keys that have helped her daughters to consistently be polite. Plus, get them all in a free download here: SEND ME THE 8 KEYS

We've gotten a lot of compliments about how polite our kids are. We've also had plenty of moments where they were less than well-mannered... making demands, throwing tantrums. It's real life over here. But I do enjoy and appreciate the positive feedback I get from childcare workers and other parents that my kids say thank you and please and have concern and care for others. It makes my mom heart happy, and not only because they're doing the right thing. Partly that. But partly it's nice to know that what I'm doing is actually working. That repeating myself a kagillion times when I remind them, "say 'more PLEASE'" is actually having some affect on them. Phew. Because motherhood is hard, and you don't get a lot of feedback on much of it, at least for years down the road (that's what I hear anyway!). RELATED: 7 WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR WOMEN ON HOW TO THRIVE AS A MOM

8 Keys To Teach Kids To Say Thank You And Please When They're Young

So how do you teach your kids to say please and thank you in a way that actually sticks? Here are 8 Keys we use or have used regularly with our three daughters. And before we dive in, here's a video of my youngest at 18 months saying "thank you." (it's pretty adorable, of course!)

1- Use Sign Language

We started teaching please with sign language. We only used the sign for "more" but always said "more please." It seemed too complicated to use two signs, so we stuck with one. It took a long time (a few months) of signing to them before any of the kids ever signed back. I was about to give up a few times but finally they caught on. Sign language came in SO handy, so don't give up! (other super helpful signs are "hungry," "diaper," "help," and "all done.") We didn't use the sign for thank you very much for some reason, but we always said it to them and had them say it. Which leads to the next step, Repetition. We loved the website BabySignLanguage.com and others we found on Google. You can find a ton of quick videos that to look up signs in the moment. Here's a video of the sign for "more."

2- Repeat The Correct Words

You have to repeat yourself 100 million times (slight exaggeration) when teaching kids to say please and thank you. When they say MORE, we repeated "more PLEASE" when gave the next bite or item.

3- Model Phrases For Good Manners

As my kids age, we continue to do a lot of phrase modeling. If they say, "give me ball," I'll say, "Can I have the ball please?" and wait for them to repeat my phrase. When they do, I give them the object. Of course, even for my very verbal 2 year old "Can I have the ball please?" still sounds more like "Can ball peez?" When you can see that your child is doing their best to say please, you can reward them. Eventually you can require more specific phrasing. With my 6-year-old, if she calls out "More pizza please!" we say, "May I..." and then she remembers and reorders her words with "may" in front: "May I have some more pizza please?" It's also helpful to guide them on how to be polite at birthday parties and when they receive gifts. Kids don't automatically think about thanking others, so modeling what to say is a huge help. For example: Quietly telling a 3-year-old what to say to Uncle Matt when he gets them a set of whiffle golf clubs. If you want a pretty paper reminder of these phrases, you can grab them all here: SEND ME THE 8 KEYS

Polite kids are so much more fun to be around!

4- Have Patience With Slow Progress

If you find yourself getting upset at a child who doesn't use please and thank you, try to remember that they are learning. I'm still reminding my almost-7-year-old to use her manners, so a two or three-year-old will not have it down yet. It takes time. If your child doesn't say please or thank you, simply remind them by modeling the phrase you'd like them to use and then expecting them to repeat it. Though they're learning, that doesn't mean they get the item they want without being polite. If they want a snack, you can certainly expect them to ask politely and not demand it. Kids learn quickly by cause and effect. For example: If I demand a snack, I don't get one. If I am polite and say please, I might get one. Of course, we don't always say yes just because our adorable child used manners and it melted our hearts. It can be hard to say no, but kids also have to learn to deal with that disappointment.

5- Reminding Of The Magic Word

When you think your child understands the concept of saying please (and can verbally express themselves), start giving them hints in addition to phrase modeling. You are still being kind and gracious with your response but aren't giving attention to their requests (or demands) until they choose to be polite. You can use hints such as: You're missing the magic word...What's the magic word again?I can't hear you when you ask like that.How can you solve that problem? (when they say "I need some milk!" If they can't think of how to solve it, we teach them these options: "you can ask for help politely or try to get it on your own") To teach Thank You, we repeat and remind them to say it anytime they forget: "What do you say?" We repeat that phrase constantly.

6- Don't Make Food A Battleground

Eventually, you can withhold the item until they say please, but give them time to gradually learn with lots of reminders. Obviously don't starve them if they don't say it during dinner. Kids learn cause and affect really quickly, and they can see the connection between you waiting to give them something until they say please. RELATED: 6 MEAL PLANNING TIPS THAT WILL HELP YOUR KIDS EAT BETTER If you have a strong-willed child (my oldest was fairly strong-willed when she was a toddler) you can be more of a stickler with toys and other items rather than with food. It's better not to let eating be a fight and not to create ultimatums with taking bites. For something extra like dessert, you could certainly require a please because they won't miss any nutrients if they don't have it. If you want these 8 Keys in printable form, you can grab them here: SEND ME THE 8 KEYS

It takes a lot of reminders, but it's worth it to teach manners!

7- Use Positive Reinforcement

It's important to praise your children when they get it right. I think over-praising is helpful when they're first learning. Get really excited and give them a big hug when they're polite. Tell them, "Thank you for saying 'please'! Good job!" You can use a positive reward system like this one we use if your kids needs some extra motivation. In the system, you give them a token (we use poker chips) when they do something above and beyond. You can also give a token to emphasize something you're trying to teach, which in this case is saying "thank you" and "please."

8- Be A Good Example

Kids learn so much from watching others, especially their parents. In an article on Parents.com, Dr Klein states, "Parents of toddlers are under constant observation. During this critical developmental period, it's important to model your best behavior." If you are teaching your kids to say Please and Thank You, but don't use those phrases much yourself, it's not going to stick for them either. Demonstrate the politeness you want to see, and it will make a huge difference in what they pick up and start doing. Along those lines, you DON'T have to be a perfect parent! Sometimes how we come back from our mistakes is the biggest lesson for our kids. RELATED: 5 MYTHS THAT KEPT ME FROM FEELING LIKE A GOOD MOTHER

The Truth About Please And Thank You

The truth is, we aren't teaching our kids good manners just so we get a lot of compliments about how polite they are. And even though I like knowing my strategies are working, that's not the reason I do it either. We teach kids to say thank you and please because it teaches them to be grateful. It helps them have more care and concern for others in a day where children tend to be self-centered and entitled. We instill manners in them because it helps them become the people we know they can be-- the loving, kind, thoughtful person with a unique identity and a lot to offer the world. Don't forget to grab this super helpful printable to teach your kids become polite, well-mannered little humans! You can get it below:

SEND ME THE 8 KEYS Read the full article

[the-desolated-quill]

The Doctor, The Widow, And The Wardrobe - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

I actually went into this one cautiously optimistic for once. While there were a few problems with it, Moffat's adaptation of A Christmas Carol was pretty damn good overall and surprisingly touching at points. (See, I do say nice things about Moffat sometimes. So I don’t want anymore hate mail saying I’m just a Moffat hater. I’m not a Moffat hater. I just despise shit writing. It’s not my fault if most of what Moffat writes is shit, is it?). Granted I wasn’t too keen on the idea of Moffat adapting The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. I’m not exactly a fan of CS Lewis (misogynistic prick), but I figured I’d give Moffat a chance. It might be really good.

Was it? Well... I suppose it’s not the worst thing he’s ever written.

Things don’t exactly go off to a promising start. Remember when the Doctor said it was time to step back into shadows? Go into hiding? Stop being so big and noisy? Well this episode opens with the Doctor blowing up a spaceship. So much for hiding. And don’t get me started on the Doctor falling to Earth and trying to put on a spacesuit whilst in the vacuum of space. I know the science in Doctor Who has always been incredibly dodgy, but this is taking the piss.

Anyway the Doctor is rescued by a woman called Madge and he vows to return the favour. Three years later, during World War 2 (yes again), Madge and her family get evacuated (to an empty house, which is unusual. Also Madge is evacuated with her children. Why I don’t know. Either she’s a lot younger than she looks or Moffat hasn’t picked up a history textbook in a while) and the Doctor returns to give them the best Christmas they’ve ever had.

Let’s quickly talk about the family. First there’s Madge, played by Claire Skinner. Not a particularly interesting character, but she seems likeable enough. I enjoyed her resourcefulness at the beginning with the lockpick and everything. I also liked her emotional dilemma. Trying to give her children a happy Christmas while at the same time handling her own grief toward her seemingly dead husband and attempting to put a brave face on it. Her husband is played by Alexander Armstrong, who gives a good enough performance with the small amount of material he’s been given, although it’s a bit hard to take him seriously as an RAF pilot considering that he played an RAF pilot in the comedy sketch show Armstrong & Miller. Every time he talked, I kept expecting him to start complaining about how he wasn’t allowed to wear his ‘well hardcore trousers with all the pockets and shit’. Their children are less effective however. Cyril is a gormless troublemaker played by a child actor who gives a performance more wooden than the trees. And finally there’s Lily, who... exists. She breathes in oxygen and breathes out carbon dioxide. That’s basically her main contribution to the story. (And don’t forget, trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, so Lily is in fact making a very important contribution indeed).

We then spend some time enjoying some wacky hijinks with the Doctor, including spinning armchairs, taps that dispense lemonade, a train set built into a Christmas tree, and hammocks. While I’ve never been very fond of Matt Smith’s Doctor, even I have to admit I found this amusing. I think it’s because of how humble it all is. The Doctor isn’t being weird just to show off how weird he’s being like he normally does. He genuinely wants make this family happy.

And then it’s off to Narnia.

At first things are pretty suspenseful. Christmas trees that grow their own baubles, mysterious footprints and a wooden building shaped like a giant Playstation Move (remember those?). But as things go along, you get the sense that the episode is treading water a bit. Let’s face it, there isn’t actually a plot here. Sure Moffat tries to shake things up with the wooden statues and Bill Bailey in a space marine outfit. He even name-drops Androzani in the hopes that it’ll get classic series fans like myself excited. But it does little to disguise the fact that we’re basically watching a bunch of people trudging through the snow for 45 minutes with not a lot actually happening. It’s a bit dull. In fact name-dropping Androzani might not have been the best idea because all it did was remind me I could be watching The Caves Of Androzani right now instead of this.

Bill Bailey is utterly wasted. Who casts a brilliant comedian like him as the comic foil? Whose stupid idea was that? It hurts especially because you just know if he was doing most of the jokes, he would knock it out of the park. instead it all feels really awkward and forced. The other two Androzani miners just aren’t very good. And more to the point, what are they all even doing there? They’re using acid rain to harvest the trees, but why do they need to be there on the ground? And why, other than for the sake of plot convenience, did they leave that mechanical walker behind?

It soon becomes clear this is supposed to be an environmentalist story. The souls of the trees wanting to escape from the destructive influence of man. A worthy cause I suppose, even if it is a bit old hat. It’s a pity it doesn’t really make sense. So their plan to escape is to just wait for a human woman to conveniently happen upon them? Bit weak, isn’t it?

And then of course Moffat’s trademark sexism comes creeping back in. When her children disappear, mild mannered Madge suddenly shifts to the Moffat default of a gun toting sass machine (where did she even get the gun from anyway?) because that’s the only way Moffat knows how to write women. Apart from anything else, it’s just boring by this point. She manages to incapacitate the Androzani miners with ease, she manages to operate the mechanical walker despite the fact it takes years of training to do so apparently, and she absorbs the souls of the entire forest. How is she able to do all of that? Because she’s a mum. Yes ladies, it’s your capacity to bear life that makes you strong.

Moffat thinks he’s a feminist. I think he has an extremely unhealthy and patronising obsession with the female reproductive system. Also he doesn’t seem to understand how relationships actually work (which is a bit worrying considering he’s married). Newsflash: A man following a woman home alone in the middle of a forest is not romantic or charming. it’s just fucking creepy.

Yeah, so anyway, after some convoluted bullshit that gets everyone back home and brings Madge’s husband miraculously back from the dead, the Doctor goes off to visit Amy. I was more than happy to see the back of her, so you can imagine my disappointment when she showed up at the end. (And with a water pistol to assault carol singers with. What a delightful person). The episode concludes with an oh so poetic tear trickling down the Doctor’s face while the audience simultaneously groans with embarrassment at such a cliched ending.

Like I said, The Doctor, The Widow, And The Wardrobe isn’t the worst Moffat story I’ve seen. It’s not outrageously bad or anything. It’s just not very good. Also, apart from the WW2 setting and the snowy forest, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe whatsoever. In my opinion, the biggest crime this episode commits is that it’s just really, really dull to sit through. My advice is to just watch A Christmas Carol again.

[evanvanness]

Annotated edition for Week in Ethereum News Feb 9

There’s too much going on in Ethereum for Substack!

This edition was so massive that I found out that Substack (my email provider) has a character limit, because it started giving me warnings when I wasn’t even done.  So to make space, I cut out some of the default language in the bottom sections that few people read.  Probably should switch some of that language up anyway.

Link for standard version of Week in Ethereum News without my commentary.

Eth1

Latest core devs call. Beiko’s notes

EIP1962 generalized elliptic curve and pairing engine implementation in Go

Nethermind v1.6.1 – better tip of the chain tracking and reorg handling, JSON RPC bugfixes

Parity v2.7.2 and the next steps for Parity client maintenance under GPL3 (though reportedly most participants preferred a more permissive license)

Slockit’s Incubed ultralight client server setup wizard

On the core devs call, they’re going over what makes sense to include in the next fork.  The second EIP1962 implementation is the link in here, important because it’s the alternative to the MatterLabs implementation for the generalized precompile.

Nethermind continues to improve with constant releases.   Parity kicked off their “OpenEthereum” transition of the client to the community.  Apparently the DAO idea is on the backburner - if reports on Twitter are to be believed, they would have held the majority of the tokens.  That’s crazy, presumably the idea was that they’d be giving them out over time to the contributors.  It would have been nice to have a better writeup somewhere

Headsup: at some point there is going to be (another) fight over ProgPoW.  It’s an odd beast where both sides are convinced that they have already won - meaning that anger and disgruntled ragequits are almost guaranteed.  

If you’re the sort of person who ragequits because you didn’t get your way, then there’s a reason why forks of Ethereum exist.

Eth2

Danny Ryan’s quick eth2 update – it’s optimization time

What’s New in Eth2

Latest eth2 call. Notes from Mamy and Ben.

Jim McDonald: defining eth2 network metrics

A look at Rocketpool’s GUI

Nimbus’ first mobile testnet on Android. Plus part 2 of building Nimbus on Android.

Eth2 research team ask me anything on Reddit

Rocketpool is currently the 3rd most clicked of this week’s issue.  I’ve been of the opinion that CLI is fine for staking - most people who are willing to stake their ETH at the start can handle a CLI, I think.  Rocketpool is conservatively estimating to go live in Q4 - I imagine that the staking rewards will be substantially higher in q3 pre-rocketpool, and then will go down again around q1 2021 when exchanges/custody services start staking for their customers.

Nimbus mobile testnet is neat.  The idea has always been that you can run a validator on a mobile phone.  It’s happening!

Layer2

Batch Deposits for [op/zk] rollup / mixers / MACI

Matic explains advantages and limitations of Plasma and rollups

A relatively straightforward section this week. 

Stuff for developers

Kendrick Tan’s practical guide to building zk dapps

Kimi Wu’s hands on your first zk dapp

OpenZeppelin contracts v2.5 – with CREATE2, enumerableset and big NFT gas savings

Remix v0.9.3 – you can now test the functionality of receive & fallback functions

ABDK adds a number converter to its online toolkit

ethers.js and Google’s Bigquery

Alethio adds API endpoints for Rinkeby, Kovan and Ropsten testnets, as well as webhooks

MythX, Quantstamp, Runtime Verification, Sooho, SmartDec and ConsenSys Diligence starting Ethereum Trust Alliance, a security rating system for deployed Eth code

Time travel queries using a subgraph from The Graph

Brownie now supports Vyper

Microsoft’s Azure Eth development kit is now generally available

A write up of the bug that Sam Sun found in three of Kyber’s bridge reserves

EthVigil’s interactive tutorials for devs new to Ethereum concepts

3Box Comments and Chatbox plugins now have emojis, likes, and votes

I like to highlight the zk stuff as it’s clearly the future.  

Sam Sun just keeps finding bugs.   

Checkout the EthVigil tutorials.  They look pretty slick!

Though it’s still early days (the standard thing to say on every panel at every crypto conference), a sign of maturity is that things like Microsoft’s Eth dev kit being generally available isn’t an earth shattering headline anymore.  Everyone now knows that all the world’s biggest companies are experimenting with this technology, almost always on Ethereum, yet they’re also often quiet about it.  

It’s usually safe to just replace “blockchain” with “Ethereum” in most MSM headlines.

Ecosystem

Why ENS uses Ethereum and not a new basechain. (Also: ENS’ registry migration is complete)

How Whisper-fork Waku does DNS based discovery

ConsenSys lays off 14% as part of strategic transformation

Matt Leising says he knows who the DAO hacker is

SHPLONK, an explainer of last week’s paper from Boneh, Drake, Fisch, and Gabizon

Matt Leising has identified...the best way to sell a book by claiming that he has  identified the DAO hacker.  He’s been teasing it for a bit.  I sure hope this holds up better than the Newsweek “scoop” identifying Dorian Nakamoto as Satoshi.  After it was clearly debunked, the Newsweek authors kept claiming that their “forensic analysis” was correct.  Embarrassing.  Let’s see the evidence.

The zk naming schemes are great.  Zero knowledge is one of those things that is exploding because of blockchain.

ConsenSys had a round of layoffs this week, though as you see below, it also acquired a municipal bond broker-dealer.  Coverage was actually reasonable - it’s another sign that perhaps this industry is (sometimes) growing up a bit.

Enterprise

ConsenSys acquires Heritage Financial Systems, a municipal bond broker-dealer, to tokenize them on Codefi

Governance and standards

Two articles on DigixDAO dissolution: as an example of DAOs working (though just 58 addresses voted out of 11,000+) and Coinfund looks at the Digix voting power

Why ragequit is game changing

Live on mainnet

Colony is in public beta live on mainnet

First 10,000 zkDai is on Aztec

Mattereum’s asset passports are live on mainnet

District0x’s District Registry is live on mainnet, a TCR for its community

Coronavirus whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang is memorialized on mainnet

AirSwap Delegates is live on mainnet. Configure automated trading rules, onchain limit orders, liquidity integration with Kyber, and ability to add new tokens

I love the idea of Colony and want to get a chance to test it.

I had to break up the app layer section this week because there were just too many things.  Obviously a DeFi heavy list, and many of the things in the next “application layer” section are also on mainnet.  Things are shipping!  The distinction between the two sections was a bit arbitrary, as is always the case.

Application layer

DeFi hit $1 billion USD equivalent locked up

Maker Dai Stability Fee 8%; DSR 7.5%

Data viz on Maker’s Sai to Dai migration success

A spreadsheet of admin keys in DeFi

Etherisc’s flight insurance app returns on Rinkeby testnet using Chainlink

Idle Finance v2 (an autobalancer similar to Staked’s RAY)

Collateral Swap – swap between Maker collateral (eg, ETH<>BAT) with Aave + Uniswap

List of DeFiZaps – one click to do a bunch of DeFi actions

Gelato, a no code bot to automate your Ethereum tasks. Tutorial

Gauntlet’s analysis of why Uniswap is a good oracle

Credentify, an API to issue standard European education credentials stacked into ECTS

Circles’s universal basic income is live on Kovan testnet

Maple Loans undercollateralized loans through communities with the option to slice up the risk CDO-style

Zero Collateral loans with cDai, live on mainnet (but unaudited alpha software)

Dharma’s dtokens – wrappers around Compound tokens, a la rDai, but for services to take profits. In this case, 10% of interest to Dharma

DeFi hitting $1b USD is definitely the story of the week.  Of course there are criticisms you can make (it’s risky, the risks are cascading, there will likely be some kind of crisis at some point, oracles are centralized, etc etc) but as Josh Stark and I wrote in our Year in Ethereum 2019 piece, DeFi is an alternative financial system and in many ways a remarkably better one.   Way less paperwork, much less settlement times, better transparency, not to count the various improvements on censorship-resistance, trustlessness, permissionlessness, etc.

I liked Avichal’s tweet:

Imagine a Fintech startup tweeted: "We launched two years ago. Today we have $1 Billion in collateral and have given out a cumulative of $1B in loans!" Every VC in the world would want to know what the hell the startup does and how it works. 2020 is going to be wild for crypto. pic.twitter.com/yb8gfISSoX

— Avichal Garg (Electric Capital) ⚡ (@avichal)

February 7, 2020

One thing we linked in the Year in Eth piece was a story about a Turkish football star who is now driving for Uber because Erdogan froze his bank accounts in Turkey.  I take the story with a small grain of salt, but it’s a reminder than any wealth you save is...sometimes not really yours if it resides in a bank. 

Unsecured/undercollateralized loans is definitely becoming an area of experimentation, with multiple projects on Ethereum.  

Tokens/Business/Regulation

Hester Peirce speech proposing an SEC safe harbor for tokens

Op-ed: America falling behind the world in blockchain

Viewing GDPR from a blockchain lens

6 central banks to talk digital currency in April

Ethereum needs more entrepreneurs and product people just as much as more devs

Are stablecoins parasites on ETH?

Why ETH will sustain a monetary premium

The SEC should have figured out some kind of safe harbor in 2016, and then we wouldn’t have had the mania and fraud and misallocation of capital that occurred in 2017 that set the space back.   But still, better late than never - though certainly some things have happened outside of the US because of the SEC.  Decentralization in action!

Kames’s article calling for more entrepreneurs is an interesting one.  Is more devs the bottleneck or is it better entrepreneurs?  

I’ve never liked the “monetary premium” angle.    What I do find amusing is how many Bitcoiners point to something written at the peak of BTC’s 2017 bubble where a legacy finance guy tries to get his friends to buy BTC (I hope they ignored him then!) and not ETH with the argument that ETH is intrinsically valuable, but BTC is not, therefore all the value will accrue to BTC.

Only in crypto, folks.

General

Dispelling Bitcoin maximalist myths about Ethereum

a visual introduction to Merkle trees

Accelerating powers-of-tau ceremonies with optimistic pipelining

How does cryptocurrency have value, part 2 of Maker’s intro series

It’s impressive how much fake news is created about Ethereum by Bitcoin maximalists.  I’m convinced that a decent chunk of Bitcoin holders actually think that Ethereum runs on Infura, and another chunk think that an Eth full node needs 10 TB.  A bunch of the crypto clickbait media feeds these falsehoods because they can get cheap clicks from Bitcoiners.   

If you don’t know what a Merkle tree is, check out the intro.  

See you next week.  Somehow I’ll try to get an issue out in the midst of EthDenver.

[beavervan55-blog]

7 key things we’ll be watching during Eagles OTA practices

The Philadelphia Eagles’ 2019 OTA practice schedule starts tomorrow on May 21. Tuesday marks the first time we’ll get to see these Birds in their first full practice this offseason. Remember: these drills are designed to be non-contact (no pads allowed), so it’s not quite real football yet, but it’s still better than nothing. Here are some key things we’ll be watching.

UPDATE: NFL Network reports Carson Wentz will have “no limitations for on-field drills during OTAs.”

Duh. There’s no other way to start this list.

It’s currently unclear to what extent Wentz will be participating in Tuesday’s practice. In his rookie minicamp press conference from two weeks ago, Doug Pederson was noncommittal about the starting quarterback’s status.

“Not going to get too specific or detail a lot of the things, but he’s been working. Encouraged by his progress and where he’s at. And just looking forward to the next few weeks with him.”

Wentz is still seemingly recovering from the fractured vertebrae that ended his 2018 season early. Here’s what Pederson originally said about Wentz’s potential recovery period back in mid-December:

“Don’t want to put a timetable on it, but it could be three months possibly.”

That was five months ago.

Wentz missing some spring practices would be far from the end of the world. But any time the team’s franchise quarterback is less than 100%, people are reasonably going to have some level of concern.

The guess here is that Wentz will be participating in practice in some capacity. But I also think the Eagles want to be super extra cautious with him so he’s ready for the actual games that matter.

Still, it’d be nice to see Wentz at 100% sooner than later. The last time he had a full offseason to prepare for the upcoming campaign was 2017, a year in which he nearly won NFL MVP.

If Wentz is limited, it’ll be interesting to see what Nate Sudfeld can do with extended first team reps. There’s obviously pressure on Studfeld to step up as the No. 2 guy with Nick Foles gone.

2 - First look at the new offensive weapons

The Eagles offense was too stagnant at times in 2018 so Howie Roseman went and out and acquired a bunch of new weapons for Wentz in the offseason. It’ll be fun to see the likes of Miles Sanders, DeSean Jackson, Jordan Howard, and JJ Arcega-Whiteside out there on the practice field.

Sanders’ usage will be especially interesting. How big of a role will he have as a rookie? How involved will he be in the passing game?

Eagles fans already know all about Jackson’s capabilities. He’s going to burn some defensive backs in practice. But can Wentz — whenever he’s back on the field — and Jackson get their timing down and get on the same page?

Howard’s physical style isn’t best highlighted in non-contact drills. It’s still be interesting to see just how many reps he gets in relation to Sanders.

JJAW could make for a very fun practice player to watch, especially if the quarterbacks are giving him some jump ball opportunities in the red zone.

How the new guys fit in will be interesting to watch.

3 - Will there be more 12 personnel?!

Earlier this offseason, Doug Pederson said the Eagles’ coaching staff has made a concentrated effort to get more two tight sets involved in the offense. Assuming he’s telling the truth, that’s very smart because 12 personnel helped saved the Eagles’ 2018 season.

I want to take Pederson at face value because 2019 marks the first full offseason where the Eagles know they have two really good tight ends. The team didn’t select Dallas Goedert until late April last year and they didn’t know exactly how much he could contribute as a rookie.

But now they should know that Goedert and Zach Ertz are both studs who deserve a lot of playing time. Goedert showed serious potential last year and he should only improve moving forward. Ertz, meanwhile, is coming off a year in which he broke the NFL record for single-season tight end receptions.

We should be seeing the Eagles utilize a good amount of 12 personnel during spring practices.

4 - The right guard spot

Brandon Brooks isn’t going to participating in OTAs as he recovers from his Achilles injury suffered in January. So, who get the first crack at right guard in his absence?

It could be 2018 sixth-round pick Matt Pryor. Or it could be Stefen Wisniewski. Maybe the Eagles rotate those guys there. Wis offers more experience but Pryor has more upside.

There’s also the possibility the Eagles could move Halapoulivaati Vaitai to guard. Doing so would free up Andre Dillard to get more reps at left tackle, which is the exact spot Pederson said the Eagles want to keep their 2019 first-round pick focused on.

5 - The defensive end rotation

Sadly, Chris Long is retiring. So, how do the Eagles replace him?

Let’s start with what we DO know: the Eagles have a good trio of defensive ends in Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, and Vinny Curry. There’s reason to believe these guys can be more effective in 2019 than 2018 since injuries held them back last season. Barnett’s outlook will be especially interesting to watch; the Eagles seem to be really counting on their 2017 first-round pick to make a big leap in his development. At only 22 years old heading into his third season, he very well could be up to the task.

But what about beyond those three guys? We know Jim Schwartz loves to rotate his pass rushers.

Before we look outward, we must look inward. And by that I specifically mean the interior defensive line. The presence of both Malik Jackson and Timmy Jernigan could result in the Eagles using their ends to play at defensive tackle less often. This configuration could shorten up the defensive end rotation.

Still, what if there are injuries to the ends? The Eagles could suddenly be looking at one of Daeshon Hall, Josh Sweat, Shareef Miller, or Joe Ostman as one of their top three edge rushers. That’s not ideal.

It’s always possible the Eagles could sign a veteran defensive end (Derrick Morgan?) but for now the Eagles can use the spring to evaluate their young guys at that position.

The dark horse to watch at defensive end is Hall. I put him over Sweat on my latest 53-man roster projection. Maybe I’m reading into things too much but I found it interest how Howie Roseman mentioned Hall’s name before Sweat during his post-draft press conference. Also look at this recent article from Dave Spadaro that features three paragraphs on Hall before one shorter one on Sweat. Hall, not unlike Sweat, boasts an elite athletic profile. Hall also doesn’t have the injury history that’s always going to be a concern with Sweat.

Miller and Ostman obviously bear watching as well. The Eagles liked Miller enough to select him with a fourth-round pick. Ostman is a guy that’s drawn a lot of praise from the organization and it’ll be interesting to see if he’s anything more than a good practice player.

The Eagles were able to win a Super Bowl title largely in part because they led the NFL in pressures generated that season. The defensive end position is critical to their team success.

6 - The secondary configuration

There are many questions to be answered in the Eagles’ secondary.

Who is starting at the outside spots? Who’s starting at nickel cornerback? When will Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills be healthy? What position will Avonte Maddox play: corner, nickel, or safety? Can Cre’Von LeBlanc pick up where he left off after playing well down the stretch in 2018? Is Rasul Douglas ready to make the leap as a full-time starter? Is Malcolm Jenkins going to show up to practice? Is Andrew Sendejo going to make the team when he could be cut to preserve a 2020 fourth-round compensatory pick? Can Tre Sullivan step up into the old Corey Graham role?

I thought of all of those before I even got to one of the biggest questions of all: what’s in store for Sidney Jones’ future? Can he stay healthy? How does he fit in?

By re-signing Darby, the Eagles gave themselves a lot of options heading into 2019. The offseason is the time for them to experiment with different combinations and see what works best.

7 - The stock we put into spring performances

It’s fair to wonder how much spring success translates to the regular season.

Sometimes it just doesn’t. Take De’Vante Bausby last year, for example. He looked really good in OTAs but he didn’t even make the original 53-man roster.

I don’t think that final result made Bausby’s spring performance totally irrelevant, though. He was good enough to where he earned the right to battle for first team slot cornerback reps in training camp. Bausby then lost that role after struggling in summer practices and preseason games. But, still, his strong spring allowed him to at least contend for a significant role on the defense.

There could easily be some player(s) who follow in Bausby’s footsteps this offseason. Some guys will look good in the spring and then fade in the sweltering training camp heat. On the flip side, there could also be some guys who build on their spring momentum and take a big step forward in their development heading into the regular season.

Source: https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2019/5/20/18632446/eagles-otas-practice-philadelphia-nfl-things-watch-preview-guide-carson-wentz-miles-sanders-battles

[thursdaywords]

The 1975 are a band that have been capturing the hearts of thousands since their break in to the music scene in early 2014 with the release of Chocolate, a single from their debut self-titled album. At least, that’s when I first caught wind of them up here in Canada. I’ll admit, I wasn’t much of a fan at first, being put off by lead singer Matt Healy’s at times hard to understand vocals. At the same time though, even I couldn’t deny how infectious and catchy Chocolate was, whether I could understand it or not.

I didn’t become the massive fan I am now until last year, months after the release of their second album, i like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it. I gave the band a second try and quickly became enamoured the their music. Though their use of callbacks to the 80’s in their instrumentals and quirky lyrics, the 1975 have managed to establish a unique and unmistakable sound for themselves.

Here are my top 10 personal favourite songs by the band. Keep in mind that I’m not claiming to be a professional music critic here (though I do lovecriticizing music, but that’s a topic for another day). These songs are my favourites for a combination of reasons, which I will explain for each pick.

Enjoy, and feel free to leave your favourites in the comments if you’re a 1975 fan too!

10. fallingforyou

The spacey, airy, atmosphere of this song to me always perfect captures the feeling of being intoxicated by love, or even lust. It’s a good sex song – and you’ll hear me say that about a lot of 1975 songs. The biggest reason that this song made my list is the sentimental attachment I have to it. When I hear it, I can’t help but be reminded of the night that my boyfriend and I spent last summer before we were dating, drunk at a friend’s house, sharing a couch meant for one person all night. To me, that innocence and wonder at the prospect of finally being with that person you’ve wanted for a long time – yeah, that’s what gets me about this one.

Favourite lyric: What time you coming out?/We started losing light/I’ll never make it right if you don’t want me round/I’m so excited for the night/All we need’s my bike and your enormous house

9. UGH!

I will stand by my opinion that this is by far the most catchy 1975 song. The bubbly beat contrasts the kind of depressing lyrics about a cocaine addiction, and what can I say – I’m a sucker for upbeat sounding songs with deeper lyrics. I love listening to this song and focusing on a different layer of it each time. I also love the more raw tone Healy’s voice has here, especially in the chorus.

FL: Oh the kick won’t last for long/But the song only lasts 3 minutes/I think I’ve lost my phone/So won’t you call it up for me?

8. Me

Now this is a song that sounds depressing, and is depressing. Healy takes on very personal issues here in this song that even if you are unable to relate to, are easy to understand. The raw emotion in his voice and the lyrics he sings always stirs something deep inside of me. You can’t help but vividly feel his pain as he sings about considering taking his own life. The simple ping-pong beat and slower synths in the background allow for all of the focus on Healy and his words, and it works incredibly well. This is one of my go-to feel sad songs, and I adore it.

FL: I’m sorry but I’d rather be getting high than watching my family die

7. Love Me

The jarring guitar riff at the beginning of this song was what I hated about it most when I first heard it, and now it’s the very thing I love most about it. This is probably the most retro sounding song the band has recorded, and my God I love it. So does my mom for that same reason. With Love Me, I don’t pay much attention to the lyrics, but rather just enjoy every second of the instrumental. It’s a song that I love blasting in my car with the windows rolled down, and though I love that the 1975 can evoke a strong emotional response from me with their lyrics, I love that they can do it with their actual music too.

FL: Hey! Would you like to look outside sometimes?/I’m just with my friends online

6. Menswear

Speaking of amazing instrumentals, that’s all the first two minutes of this song really is, and it’s the best part of it. Well, the buildup that the instrumental creates is the best part of it actually. As the beat kicks in and the sounds become more complex I can’t help but feel my emotions build with the music. I anticipate the moment the lyrics explode into the mix, somehow always managing to catch  me off-guard no matter how many times I hear the song. But the lyrics here aren’t lacking either – they’re witty, a little passive-aggressive, but most of all fun. This is a song I never get tired of hearing.

FL: He looks just like me, but 6 foot 3/So I reckon you could knock him out

5. Robbers

I feel like this is the 1975 song that makes almost everyone’s favourite list, but there’s a reason for that. The instrumental fade-in at the beginning of the song that somehow manages to set the tone perfectly, the chilling lyrics and the longing way that Healy sings them – to me, it’s an almost perfect song. It’s just so atmospheric, and I get absorbed in all 4 minutes and 15 seconds the way I would in a good book. This is also another 1975 song that has a lot of sentimental value to me, and for that reason it always hits me a little harder when Healy sings, you look so cool.

FL: But if you just take off your mask/You’d find out everything’s gone wrong/Now everybody’s dead/And they’re driving past my old school/And he’s got his gun, he’s got his suit on/She says, ‘Babe, you look so cool’

4. A Change of Heart

This song is an anomaly to me. Normally, I’d be annoyed by the whining synths, passive-aggressive lyrics, and the melody that is all over the place, but again, those are the things that I love about this song. The bouncy synth on the beat that almost sounds like tin drums, the simplicity of the song that somehow makes it more complex – I adore it. While I do think it’s instrumental is its strong point, A Change of Heart’s lyrics are a lot of fun too. That feeling of realizing someone isn’t exactly who you thought they were and regretting starting anything with them in the first place is again something that I find very relatable. Here, Healy uses the lyrics to paint both himself and this girl in a not-so-nice light, making the whole story feel a lot more like reality than an ego-boost or a ���holier than thou,’ sort of thing. I also have to acknowledge the reference to Robbers here- it adds some layers to the story and is a smart way of rewarding 1975 fans for their careful listening.

FL: You smashed a glass into pieces/That’s around the time I left/And you were coming across as clever/Then you lit the wrong end of your cigarette

3. Somebody Else

I could call this the song that truly got me into the 1975. I watched the music video by my friend’s recommendation the day it came out and after that I was hooked. Again, it’s just so damn atmospheric. I can always insert myself into the narrator’s position – hazy, confused, miserable, jealous, a little drunk. It became the soundtrack to my summer of 2016 and what I was going through around that time in my personal life only made the song that much more important to me. I remember one night I had gone for a run when a thunderstorm had broken out while I was far from home, and I put this song on repeat as I embraced getting soaking wet and seeing the lighting in the distance. It’s moments I’ve had like that one with this song that make it one of my all-time not just 1975 songs, but songs in general. I could go on for hours about it’s tone, lyrics, music, and of course it’s music video, but I have 2 more songs to go.

FL: Get someone you love?/Get someone you need?/Fuck that, get money/I can’t give you my soul, ’cause we’re never alone

2. Sex

Objectively, I believe this is 1975’s best song. It was their first single in 2013, and for a lot of fans, including myself I think it embodies what we love about the band. The driving guitars, and Healy’s classic vocals and racy lyrics all come together here to create the band’s most obviously ‘rock’ sounding song. Everything about it works so well, I don’t even know what I can say that everyone else hasn’t. It’s a song that I always want to hear, I never tire of, and everyone seems to like. It’s smart, undeniably catchy, and has that thing that I’m a sucker for – the upbeat sound with the sadder but clever lyrics, this time about someone being a little more invested in an affair than the other is. It’s a good sex song, I guess, but a great song in general.

FL: And she said use your hands and my spare time/We’ve got one thing in common, it’s this tongue of mine

1. You

Yes, this is my number one. I don’t even know where to begin with this song and what it means for me. Have you ever seen or read The Perks of Being A Wallflower? If you have, then you’ll know what I mean when I say that this is my tunnel song. I don’t know if there are many other songs in the world that can make me feel what this one does. The lyrics, though vague, symbolize a lot for me in terms of my personal life. That’s how I could summarize this song for me – personal. It represents overcoming obstacles, getting over something that had been dragging me down for 4 years, moving to a big city away from everything that was hurting me at home. That’s not to say that the instrumental doesn’t play a part in this emotional climax for me, in fact, it might play a bigger role. Those opening notes always signify to me that I’m going to feel okay, that I’m going to be okay, and when those triumphant sounding guitars kick in during the chorus, that’s exactly how I feel. Proud that I’ve made it, proud that it ‘takes a bit more,’ to truly bring me down. This song will forever hold a place in my heart that none other could, and it truly sums up why I love the 1975 and their music.

FL: It takes a bit more than you

What are your favourite 1975 songs?

[365footballorg-blog]

Warshaw: Running the rule over Wednesday's MLS action

USA Today Sports

October 18, 20182:03AM EDT

There were three games Wednesday night, all with playoff implications. Here are a couple notes on all six teams to roundup the night:

For United, aside from Wayne Rooney making me write “omfg” to three different friends after his game-winning free kick…

A low-key thing D.C. should feel good about is their flexibility with lineup choices. They can play different types of players within the same formation for different needs. On Wednesday night, Chris Durkin, Zoltan Stieber, and Nick DeLeon started. Sunday, it might be Junior Moreno, Ulises Segura, and Paul Arriola in their spots. Alternate lineups, alternate skill sets, without a drop in overall quality. As a result, the team can maintain its general style and principles while also adjusting for specific opponents.

A small but important variable for DC: the more they give the seemingly meaningless two-yard passes to Acosta, the more dangerous they become with their possession. Keeps ball moving + builds their orchestrator’s confidence.

— Bobby Warshaw (@bwarshaw14) October 18, 2018

We don’t think about possession enough for how it makes players feel. Touching the ball feels good. Every time a player puts his foot on the soccer ball, he feels a spurt of happiness. Sometimes you should pass the ball just to make players feel good; it builds energy and confidence. Even though that individual pass doesn’t matter, the fact that the player feels happy and confident will matter when it’s time to make a more decisive play. One reason Luciano Acosta has been so good over the last couple months (aside from the Rooney fella) is that he’s been getting lots of extra, seemingly needless touches.

For Toronto FC, the biggest difference between the Michael Bradley of 2018 and the Michael Bradley of 2017 appears to be the ability to get his body to do the “hard” things. The hard things on a soccer field aren’t tekkers skills; they are the tasks you have to dig into your heart to complete. Imagine those last three pushups when your arms are shaking and it feels like you can’t possibly push anymore and you have to make a conscious decisions to push through the pain. In soccer, those are acts like defensive transitions, sticking a toe in for a second or third time on a challenge, and moving your feet when someone tries to beat you 1v1.

Watch this foul that Bradley concedes that leads to Rooney’s free kick. He doesn’t move his feet to get a better defensive angle to cut off the passing angle; he doesn’t seem interested to fight with Yamil Asad for the next two yards. He makes the easy decision.

I’ll die on the hill that Bradley has been under-appreciated by US national team fans for years. But he hasn’t been the same in 2018.

Lucas Janson has been a good addition for Toronto. He’s a different type of player for them. For as amazing as they were last year, they didn’t have someone with his change of pace and energy off the bench. He didn’t score on Wednesday, but he stressed out D.C.’s center backs. It’s unclear whether Janson is win-a-Cup-as-a-starter good, but he’s certainly a nice third option behind Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore.

Victor Rodriguez and Handwalla Bwana got the goals tonight for Seattle, so…

Rodriguez is finally showing why the Sounders made a TAM-level investment on him. He’s comfortable on the ball and uses his low center of gravity to glide past defenders. More importantly to this specific Sounders team, he’s makes smart, dangerous runs off the ball. I highlight the word dangerous. Cristian Roldan and Nico Lodeiro have excellent movement, but it’s usually not directly dangerous toward goal. Lodeiro and Roldan often move to find the ball to feet or to make room for teammates, and Rodriguez makes that action into a goal scoring position. Rodriguez offers counter movements to the other players in his line on the field that makes the Sounders more dangerous.

Like Rodriguez, Bwana offers something unique that the Sounders might need in the playoffs. Bwana can change a game; he’s fast, fearless, and unpredictable. He’s not clean enough to be a starter yet, but he has the ability to do game-changing moments. If Seattle need a goal late in a game, Bwana is a nice option to turn to.

Seattle are now three points back of Sporting KC and LAFC, and Seattle have Houston and San Jose left on the schedule. SKC play Dallas and LAFC, while LAFC have Sporting and Vancouver. Considering at least one of SKC or LAFC need to drop points when they play each other, Seattle has a real shot of getting *at least* home field advantage for the Knockout Round.

Orlando scored! It was their first goal in more than five games. And they actually carried the match in the second half and maybe deserved an equalizer.

Matt Doyle sent me a message after Seattle’s first goal, “Dude, Orlando’s defense…” He’s right. I don’t have much to say about Orlando at this point, so let’s break down how that conversation (shouting match) probably went down in the locker room at half time. Here’s the goal to refresh your memory:

It’s Scott Sutter at right back, Shane O’Neill at right center back, Lamine Sane at left center back, and Will Johnson at left back.

O’Neill: “Lamine, where were you going?! Why did you get dragged out so far!?”

Sane: “What do you want me to do?! The guy got beyond Will! If I didn’t slide over, that runner was in on goal! You should have seen that and moved central to cover the space!”

O’Neill: “I couldn’t slide over! I had an attacker to my right! If I had come closer to you, the guy to my right would have been in!”

At which point both center backs should have turned to Sutter to yell “And what were you doing?!!!”

To which Sutter wouldn’t have a good answer. He has no reason to be so far wide on the weak side. The basic rule says the weak-side defender should be inside an imaginary line to the far post on a play like this. If the ball goes to an attacker that far wide, the defense can deal with it. If Sutter is tighter to the middle, he’s closer to the Seattle player that’s pinning O’Neill to his spot, then O’Neill could move central and track Rodriguez’s run down the middle.

We are too critical on professional players for some things. This is something we should be more critical of players for. This is an elementary tactical mistake from Sutter and the Orlando City defense.

At the 60-minute mark, I was thinking to myself, “You know what’s going to doom SKC in the end? They don’t have a player with the little extra skill or quality to make something out of nothing when they don’t look like scoring.” Then Yohan Croizet banged home a one-time curler from 18 out to tie the game. It both negates and accentuates my initial concern. Croizet was brought into this team to be that guy. They have a bunch of very good players, but they don’t have a moment-of-magic guy (think: Carlos Vela, Zlatan, Nico Lodeiro, Diego Valeri, etc). SKC don’t have the artist who sees the things the others don’t. Croizet was supposed to be it. And his goal Wednesday night reminds us of that fact, but also how rarely he does it.

SKC are good at pretty much everything. But they don’t have someone they can reliably lean on when they need it. History says you usually need that guy at some point in the playoffs.

Just when we thought Diego Rubio had won the starting striker position, Khiry Shelton makes a huge play to get Sporting their go-ahead-goal. It was a prototypical Shelton play — not pretty, and more for his teammate than himself. Then he added another assist in garbage time. In just his second appearance in three months, Shelton has possibly reasserted himself into the starting XI conversation.

BONUS: 16-year-old Gianluca Busio got his first MLS goal. He owes Johnny Russell a milkshake.

16-year-old Gianluca Busio scores his first MLS goal to make it 3-1! #VANvSKC https://t.co/GmtKb8dYDC

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 18, 2018

On Vancouver’s side, oof. Talk about opportunity missed. Vancouver controlled their own destiny. Yeah, it was a difficult journey left, with three playoff teams left on the schedule. But a win on Wednesday could have tied them on points for the 6th spot in the West. and they went up 1-0, and they led until the 60th minute. It’s a tough one to stomach. The ‘Caps can still get in, but they need help now.

Series: 

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Warshaw: Running the rule over Wednesday's MLS action was originally published on 365 Football

[cameiotmagazine-blog]

The Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider Man Review

About three years ago, when I decided to get really back into comics, when Marvel Mania was pretty much where it was right now, which is extremely high, my first real port of call, the one I really wanted to read was  Matt fraction’s  Hawkeye series, which was fantastic. I know it got some criticism. I imagined it would. I read it in trade, which probably helped a lot. In that year or so, I really intensely read Marvel comics, like almost non-stop. To me, and I suspect to a lot of people, and this has been  They were fantastic. I feel it's a real undersold golden age of Marvel stuff is that time period where Marvel was just doing fantastic and it seemed like no series they could do would screw up. The new characters were fun and interesting and diverse.

I remember explicitly one scene where I was like, "There is no better than this. There is no point that could be better than this," and that was the one scene where  It was technically, I guess, an issue where there was a Christmas party . There was no action or anything. It was just undersold and everybody was having a good time. I was like ... As I've mentioned before, what I consider to be good writing, or particularly good character writing, is the characters seem to have lives outside of the story. Every Marvel character seemed to have a life outside of their story. They all seemed to exist.

It was after that it all went so, so, so wrong. I don't know exactly what happened. I mean, of course I do. I know exactly what the reason was. The reason was my most hated enemy and foe, the thing I dislike the most in comic book story telling, is the massive multiplayer crossover thing that seems to happen every year and always is late on schedule, goes on too long, and interrupts everybody's storylines and screws everything up. There was Secret Wars, which was popular but took too long, and then there was Civil War II, which was horrible and took forever.

But the movies were going strong. Some Marvel was still chugging along its film division, for a while definitively being better than its comics division. Brutal ironies. There was that. What did Spider-Man, Peter Parker, the former erstwhile star of the Marvel universe do now? Well, and despite what you might see previously written on this site, I do not, in fact, hate Dan Slott. In the unsung golden age of Marvel that I mentioned, I should bring up one of the ones that I particularly liked was his She-Hulk one. I do feel Slott had run out of ideas of what to do with Spider-Man because when you spend a good deal of time writing a different person than the supposed star of the series, that is not like great ... That usually indicates a man that is not interested particularly in doing the thing he's been doing for years anymore.

Of course, there was other ideas that didn't work out so well and then worked out particularly well with a different person taking over.

There was some good new additions to the cast.

What about Peter himself? Well, I've always had a love/hate relationship with Spider-Man. I realized why I do because I like the character and I like the conception of the character, but I always feel he's the easiest kind of dude to screw up on in a lot of ways because most, I feel, writers project so hard into him. He has a weird almost Superman-ish problem in that sometimes Superman writers don't let Superman be a character and he has to be this ideal for all humanity. It's almost a vague Jesus-y person in a lot of ways. That's the issue for Spider-Man, but with urban and their own personality interests.

The problem hits when Peter is not allowed to be a character of his own, and that, unfortunately, was what was dominating him for the past so many years. In fact, a different Spider-Man totally outshone him for a while. After Homecoming came out and I watched it and I examined it, I realized something about Peter and especially now with this new series. Oh boy, we're getting to the actual review of the thing I promised to review? Peter is a star. Peter Parker deserves his own comic book series because Peter Parker has and always will be a great character. An everyman, although side note, we desperately do need more diverse everyman characters. I'm just saying Peter is a great one of those, who is given great power and wants to do what he can to help the world but is stuck, but is human in a realistic and personable way.

That's why he always remains popular. No matter what, Spider-Man will, I feel, remain popular because kids ... Like Batman in a lot of ways, Spider-Man can always be there for you, but he needs a good writer. I didn't think ... I remember when I first heard about this thing, and I'm always late to everything because I don't really keep up with the news on these regards, and oh my god. Is there not a more perfect match between subject and creative force than Chip Zdarsky writing Spider-Man?

Chip Zdarsky is essentially what Spider-Man (if he also was comic writer/artist)  would be if he was a real-world person. Oh my god. The second I heard about this, I knew they had found an absolutely perfect writer and the series did not disappoint. Brief overview for new readers coming into this world of Spider-Man. By casually mentioning a few things that went on in Peter's life, then pretty much ignoring, except for a few things. It kind of hints at the fact that the biggest significant new contribution to Spider-Man's mythology  is one of’s Mark Wade was the one who I always thought should have been given Spider-Man. Until, they mentioned Chip Zdarsky.

Until Chip Zdarsky name was brought up, and just like his collaborators on sex criminals, Matt Fraction, Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky is blessed with an amazing lightness tone , is goofy and brilliant, and builds likable character, unlikeable character almost immediately.

The plot is, I'm up for it, I'm following it but so the plot, the additions I love, so the plot is essentially started by, and spoiler alert for the second issue of this, pretty much the end of the first issue. It started by when Spider man's sister comes to visit him.

That's right, from that graphic novel that I didn't read, but I want to now. It's Theresa Parker, is back in the picture. And for people who've only, who may or may not be related, Peter and Theresa certainly do have the chemistry, the fun chemistry of a brother and sister, which is good.

I don't know, I mean new family members are like soap opera one o one but super heroes are, share a lot of elements with soap operas in a lot of ways. I think most people liked Theresa and the graphic novel where she originated from was popular.

I don't think anybody, I certainly don't have an objection to it. You know you gotta kind of spice up the cast every once in a while, also there is Peter’s  new romantic interest who I like, who's a stand up comedian. I misspoke there, it's not Peter Parker's new romantic interest, it's Spider man's new romantic interest.

Which leads to one of the funniest skits ever where Spider man literally dose stand up and the people are not into it (been there). So the plot is, I'm not 100% fan, although I don't mind it here because they seem to be handling it intelligently.

I'm not 100% fan when superheroes try hookup, like the concept of superheroes to real world politics, because it's such an inherently fanciful idea, the second you try and make it realistic, you always run into a little bit of an issue.

Whatever. No work can be perfect. 100% perfect. Forget that, cause that's not fun. But ultimately this is, and it tracks Peter's position to stop what turns out to be a plot by the tinkerer.

I don't want to get like more into it than that, I want to talk about the relationships because, In the end it's the relationships that make any story worth its while.

They've got some great ones cooking here. Besides, Peter and Theresa who have a great back and forth relationship, even though I dread, I'm not the hugest fan of the shop reveal, "Oh my gosh, I have a long lost sister" I like it.

If she does turn out to be his actually be his sister, or half sister, or cousin, or family member, or clone, oh please don't let her be a clone.

It would be okay if she was a clone but, they do clone stuff way too much and I'm a little sick of that plot point actually in Spider man, but anyways, that would be fantastic. They have the great natural back and forth like siblings do have.

The thing about only children is, I feel there's always a weird thing with only children and children who have siblings, it's like kids who have siblings always think like, gosh wouldn't it be great to be an only child, you wouldn't have to do all this crap and kids like me who was an only child goes, says, boy I'd love, I always kind of thought it'd be really great to have a brother or sister. 

I always wanted that kind of relationship where it's like that close familiar relationship where you're close to somebody and they get you as a person and they care about you.  I've always wondered about that in a person, like a peer you know? Anyways, a little too real on my part I guess. But let's talk about a few other people! Johnny Storm is in this and I always personally like it in Spider man stories when he has a close friend in the superhero community.

Either daredevil, and or, Johnny Storm are the two most obvious in my re-read and I've been reading the original spider man stuff lately, I dropped off for a while long time for reasons, and that's a nice call, the fact that Johnny Storm was the first superhero that Peter met, and they have a good back and forth.

I feel like I'm repeating that a lot but one of Zdarsky's strengths as a writer is he's very good at this back and forth stuff, and surprisingly he can get serious and almost always that works off.

I know that Zdarsky is not his real name, but, I think of that as him, writes very believable back and forth, and he has a strength in characters who can just be in rooms together talking a lot like his sex criminals collaborator Matt Fraction.

But the stories he writes usually are much lighter in tone and goofier. Have I mentioned I'm a big fan of Chip Zdarsky and Matt Fraction.

I think I brought that up right? Anyway, I guess the big secondary spoiler, maybe reading this to learn about this kind of thing or not, spoiler spoiler even, more spoilers than spoilage's and you know what spoiled cabbages and stuff like that are coming up is J Jonah Jameson and they fact that Peter tells Jonah that he's Spider man.

Which is a big emotional moment, and one of my favorite secondary characters, in a way matures and also runs a blog, way matures.

So after losing his, not being mayor anymore and not being publisher of the Daily, almost wrote the Daily Planet, I meant the Daily Bugle, Jonah has joined the illustrious and very very successful and hip, and hip, don't forget hip, world of online blogging.

Like most bloggers, he's obsessed just with his traffic numbers and nothing else, I certainly don't know that feeling. Staying up late at night, worrying over. Up late at night, wondering what the figures present me tomorrow. Oh, no. Anyway, so particularly long moment, Peter, who acts in a way that shows that Peter is one of the most truly human in the Marvel Universe. in the south too. Let's admit it, and let's say for real something about Jonah. Jonah is weirdly the real paternal father figure in Peter's life. I know that sounds odd that they always kind of  but if you think about it, Jonah has always been the older male figure that has tried in some way to help Peter. He's been there with him in more ways than Jonah would admit. Jonah was always, in a lot of ways, protective of Peter. It's not a good relationship. It's always been this kind of paternal relationship. Some events happen. I don't want to share the specifics of it because I want you to read the thing, but let's be honest.

If you know me by accident if you're the one person from India and the one person from Finland that seemed to read this site a lot, first Hi. How's it going? I am really appreciative of you two. I don't know who you are, but I really am appreciative. Then you've read this already and you loved it as much as I do. I loved the series so much, I've re-read all of the available issues like a couple of times.

Anyways, I feel in a lot of ways that Jonah of this is one of the hearts of the series, and one of the great arks that Karpinski has really plotted and made use of the character in a way that he hasn't been used in a long way, because he's still both hilariously a cranky old sleaze who several times goes like, "Ah, that's a great story." Cranky old sleazy journalist and JJJ a deeply tragic figure. That's fantastic, man.

So what of crisis crossovers? Why don't they work and how can they work? Why am I bringing that up in the middle of this review? Well, what do you know, there's an alien invasion that happens. I'm not going to tell you how. It's a superhero series and you know. You need a big event, and invasions are good enough. Several superheros come through together to help fight it off. While I was reading this, I had a revaluation. This is a crisis crossover. There is a crisis going on, and there's a crossover, and there's several superheros. But, I don't hate it like I usually do.

I guess the point I wanted to bring up in this series, and I kind of included it in an artless way, but I'm just going to power through that. The real problem, and why I keep going back to this seen, and why this series proves to me that I was right ... That's in a Christmas party where all the superheros get together, is that this point crisis crossovers are essentially pointless. It was interesting a few years ago the original Secret Warriors with the crisis crossovers in it, it was interesting. But the thing is the Marvel Universe and DC Universe are essentially established worlds now and superheros pop in and out of each other all the time. It's not exciting anymore to see that. It's in a way good that it's not exciting anymore, because I don't have problems with shared universes in comics. I think they're fun. I like the idea. There's always another hero to tell another story. Although, you know, Robert Altman, whatever, make another comic book adaptation. I think he'd appreciate that idea, you know.

What this proves to me, and the fact that Storm, whose a very good supporting character in this comic, proves to me is that this feels like a world now. It feels like a real fantastical insane crazy wonderful world. The only thing that crisis crossovers can achieve now is to disestablish other people's stories, ruin character development. The reason why series seem to go downwind after every crisis crossover is because they have to spend the next ten issues justifying the character, getting them back to where they were in their story, and then continuing the story. And with continuous crisis crossovers, the never get back to telling their own stories because that's the truth of it, man.

With this I realized what the issue was. This tells the whole of the Marvel Universe coming together, and doing good themselves, and everybody keeping in character. It's great that we have Chip Zdarsky or Steve because this proves a perfectly match writer and character can work wonders with each other. And that's good. So, for the first time in a while, I feel confident about the Marvel Universe, and the way it's headed. Of course, they could always screw this up, and they probably will at some point. For a while, the water is calm. The ship has not sprung a leak, and everything is still. 

[speakmuzik]

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On Wednesday 25th October 2017, the massive post-Britpop band, Starsailor (interview with James Walsh coming soon!) arrived in Brighton on their All This Life Tour in support of their latest album, All This Life. The band put on one heck of a high-energy show, packed to the brim with many of their hits as well as tracks from their new album. They were supported by Paradisia and Tom Speight.

Tom Speight

This singer-songwriter was an interesting performer with a well-crafted sound – apparently he had recently been writing with James Walsh (of Starsailor). His lyrics were meaningful and the addition of a backing singer (complete with shakers!) added a nice diversity to his live performance (instead of the often uninspiring, “guy with a guitar” sound). He and his backing singer had clearly spent a lot of time rehearsing as their vocals were very tight. The only thing which struck me as slightly odd is that considering he is a solo performer, he gave quite a bit of time to his backing singer to take lead vocals; more than you might expect, however there was a certain depth to his performance.

Highlight: Tom entering the crowd with just his backing singer and his guitar to perform a song, unplugged, in the centre of the audience was definitely a highlight and quite a unique performance idea.

Paradisia

From the moment you see a harp on stage, your interest is instantly peaked – not many bands use one, so it was something quite unique from the offset. This trio of ladies didn’t disappoint either; they are remarkably talented musicians, songwriters and performers. Their songwriting style was incredibly individual and their vocal abilities were simply stunning – to harmonise the way they did, takes a lot of practise. The only criticism I had was the lead singer’s sincerity when talking to the crowd and expressing their excitement to be there, or lack thereof – I heard others make comments about this too. However, that aside, I was utterly enthralled throughout their set and have spent time listening to them since – they are undoubtedly fantastic!

Highlight: The perfection with which the trio performed their vocal harmonies was a stunning thing to behold and I highly recommend anyone to check them out. Regardless of your taste in music, anyone can and will appreciate this band’s pure talent and the hard work they clearly put into perfecting their live performances.

Starsailor

The crowd erupted with massive applause as the band’s intro music blared through the PA system…and from there the volume only got louder – both the audience’s screams as the band appeared on stage and the band themselves as they began to play! Undoubtedly, this was one of the loudest shows I’ve ever been to (in fact two days later and I still have a very faint ringing in my ears).

Starsailor are clearly very professional at what they do – they’ve been in the business for over 15 years and toured the world – their set was flawless. They have clearly mastered their live performances, getting the right balance between not talking too much between songs (as sometimes happens with some bands) and playing a good ratio of new and old material. The audience were delighted to hear a string of the band’s biggest hits, including; ‘Alcoholic’, ‘Poor Misguided Fool’, ‘Four To The Floor’ and ‘Good Souls’ as well as some tracks from their new album, such as; ‘Listen To Your Heart’, ‘All This Life’ and ‘FIA (F**k It All)’.

Some of the standout performances for me, were: ‘Listen To Your Heart’ – as the band took to the stage, they made a massive impact on their audience straight away; ‘Take A Little Time’ which although I wasn’t overly familiar with it, was both catchy and a brilliant song to dance to – I’ve actually had it on repeat since the show; ‘Four To The Floor’ which had everyone pumped up and singing along and ‘Silence Is Easy’ as this track is just a real belter – the band played a slightly heavier version than the one they released but my god it was good!

The crowd loved every second of this show and I did too – the passion in the band’s performance and the vigour of the audience made it a truly special evening – one to remember. I highly recommend watching this band live; they will not disappoint…just make sure you bring earplugs – they’re LOUD!

Highlights:

The genuine, appreciative grin that occasionally spread across James Walsh‘s face every now and then – clearly showed he was grateful to be there and was enjoying the crowd.

James Stelfox‘s facial interactions with the audience were hilarious.

The high-energy impact and faultless nature of their set was remarkable – it was a truly special show to behold.

James Walsh asking the names of three fans at the front of the crowd who’d sung along to every word and danced without a care in the world, and then dedicating a song to them was a lovely touch of appreciation.

I liked Barry Westhead‘s use of different keyboards for different tracks – there was a great diversity with him switching between piano sounds on one keyboard and an organ.

📷 All of the photos in this post are credited to Damon Peirce 📷 Go and give him a follow on Instagram and Twitter.

Setlist

Listen To Your Heart Alcoholic Poor Misguided Fool All This Life Take A Little Time Crossfire Lullaby Blood Fever Sunday Best Caught In The Middle Tie Up My Hands Best Of Me Tell Me It’s Not Over Four To The Floor Silence Is Easy*

Encore FIA (F**k It All) Good Souls

* This song can be viewed on YouTube, below.

Finally, I want to say a BIG thanks to Rob Kerford from Sonic PR for setting up this review and interview with James Walsh from the band and to Starsailor themselves for putting on an incredible show and taking the time to talk to me.

Matt – Muzik Speaks www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

@Starsailorband's show at @concorde_2 was sensational! w/@paradisiaband & @TomSpeightMusic RT Follow @muzik_speaks   Tweet to @muzik_speaks On Wednesday 25th October 2017, the massive post-Britpop band, Starsailor (interview with…

[the-desolated-quill]

Cold Blood - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Did I mention how much I don’t like Chris Chibnall as a writer and how I really, really didn’t want him to write a Silurian story? I’m sure I did.

‘But Quill,’ I can hear you saying in my head, ‘it’s not that bad. The only reason you’re being so negative about it is because you’re comparing it to the original. Why not judge it on its own merits?’ Well first of all, it’s impossible not to compare this to the original because Chibnall is trying so desperately to emulate it (and failing miserably), and second, even by its own merits, it’s still shit.

The reason why the original Silurian/human debate worked so well was because there was no clear right or wrong answer. Both sides had a point and neither side was presented as being 100% good or evil. It was complex, nuanced and thus interesting. The debate in Cold Blood however is so cack handed and so extreme that it’s impossible to be invested in this at all.

Let’s start with the Silurian side of the debate. You have Restac, a character who’s even more boring and one note than her twin sister Alaya (i didn’t even think that was possible). Her solution to every problem is to kill all the humans. A mysterious drill from the surface is detected. Kill the humans. The perimeter has been breached. Kill the humans. You lose your car keys. Kill the humans. She never considers the possibility that this is all one giant misunderstanding. Nor is there ever an explanation for why she hates humans so much. She’s just a dull cardboard cutout foaming at the mouth.

Then there’s Eldane, played by Stephen Moore. The leader of the Silurians and who is so insanely nice to the point where it almost starts to become comical. Even when Rory, Ambrose and Tony show up carrying Alaya’s corpse, and Ambrose threatens to kill all the Silurians with the drill, Eldane still tries to help the Doctor and everyone escape at the end even by going so far as to gas his own people. What the fuck?! You could probably sit there quoting excerpts from Mein Kampf whilst jetting heroin into your eyes and defacing a library book in front of him and he’d still insist that peace could be brokered between our species.

Finally there’s the Silurian scientist Malohkeh, played by Richard Hope, who is by far the most confusing character. In this episode they go out of their way to present him as this cuddly, reasonable person who abhors violence and confrontation, but in the previous episode he was the one torturing Mo and Amy and threatening to dissect them. Talk about inconsistent.

The humans are just as bad. Tony, Ambrose’s dad played by Robert Pugh, was poisoned in the previous episode and is slowly dying, so he secretly offers to let Alaya go in exchange for a cure. Now this could be interesting. Deceit, backstabbing, survival at all costs etc. Except it’s never brought up again and even at the end he’s still treated as one of the good guys. What?! It gets even weirder when he chastises Ambrose for killing Alaya as though he’s the moral authority when a few scenes earlier he was prepared to sell out his own grandson in exchange for his own miserable life, the conniving bastard.

Ambrose too, played by Nia Roberts, is just plain daft. She’s desperate to save her son and dad (and husband Mo, although she keeps forgetting to mention him. Bad writing or a sign of marital problems? I’ll let you decide... but the answer is bad writing), and threatens to torture Alaya for information. Three problems with this. One, it’s already been established that Alaya isn’t going to talk, so torture is pointless. Two, she already knows the Doctor has gone underground to negotiate an exchange of hostages, so if she just sits patiently and doesn’t interfere, everything will be fine. And three, there’s no buildup to this whatsoever. She’s not suitably desperate enough to resort to such drastic action. All that’s happened is that Alaya has taunted her a bit and now all of a sudden she’s a cold blooded murderer. This isn’t subtle character shading. This is just picking random scenarios out of a hat.

And then there’s the Doctor, who is quite possibly the biggest idiot of the bunch. He insists that a peace can be brokered and that despite all their atrocities and crimes and violent actions, humans are still nice, kind, lovely people that the Silurians can totes be bezzy mates with. Where the Doctor is getting this idea from I don’t know considering this is the fourth time he’s tried to get the humans and the Silurians to play nice and it never works out. But my biggest problem is that he makes it all sound so simple. He claims there’s no reason why the Silurians and the humans couldn’t work together, but as I’ve already mentioned at the beginning of this review, it’s not as simple as that. We have trouble sharing the planet with members of our own species. How are we going to cope with another? And Nasreen sensibly points out that we can barely sustain our population due to limited resources. We can’t just shove another population of people on top. But no. The Doctor says it’s possible, therefore it must be so. I’m sick of New Who constantly squashing any chance for a complex moral debate in favour of overly simplistic answers. I would much rather watch Nasreen and Eldane debate about their futures rather than watch boring chase scenes and the Doctor pissing about like a tit in a trance.

Also how are Amy and Nasreen qualified to negotiate on behalf of the human race? I know Moffat and Chibnall are trying to sell the idea of the everyman hero, but again, it’s not as simple as that. How are they going to explain this to the people on the surface? Are the Silurians just going to march into the UN and go ‘Hi guys! Sorry to disturb you. We’re the Silurians. Basically these two humans that you don’t know and have no authority whatsoever have said we can share the planet with you guys. Hope that’s okay. Bye.’

Also Amy makes the idiotic suggestion that the Silurians can populate the Sahara, the Nevada Plains and the Australian Outback because they’re ‘uninhabited.’

Blimey, I’d hate to be the one that has to tell the Tuareg or the indigenous Australians that they’re going to have to share their lands with a bunch of lizard people.

Anyway the negotiations break down, everyone scarpers, the Doctor tells Tony that he’s not in fact dying but actually mutating (Huh?), and so has to stay underground to be decontaminated while Nasreen elects to stay with him (it’s a shame. I’d love to have seen her as a companion. She got on so well with the Doctor and Meera Syal is always fun to watch). Then Eldane poisons his own people (da fuck?!), the Doctor blows up the drill and then makes the insanely stupid suggestion that Mo, Ambrose and Elliot spread the word that in a thousand years time the planet is to be shared.

That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. There are two possible scenarios to this. Either everyone dismisses them as a bunch of weirdos or UNIT and Torchwood get wind of it and venture underground for a bit of pest extermination. (Also doesn’t the Earth get scorched by solar flares a thousand years in the future in The Beast Below?)

And then just when you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse, that bloody crack shows up again. It has the same effect as the one in Flesh And Stone did, effectively trampling all over the narrative. But then things take an unexpected turn when Rory kicks the bucket. Both Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are to be commended here because they both act their socks off in this scene, but it’s hard to be emotionally invested because Rory’s not dead. And I’m not just saying that with the benefit of hindsight. Even at the time I didn’t think Rory was actually dead because we saw him and Amy’s future selves waving at the beginning of The Hungry Earth. So I suspected that Moffat’s hand was hovering over the reset button. It was just a question of when he was going to press it. So yeah, it did dampen the emotional impact ever so slightly.

Now usually I like to inject some humour into my reviews, usually in the form of cynicism, bad puns, and occasionally through the use of smutty innuendo because I’m really, really childish. Believe it or not, I don’t sit there thinking of naughty things to say. Sometimes the best ones are just handed to me on a silver platter, and this is one such occasion. I see it as my reward for putting up with an hour and a half of crap, so if you don’t mind I’d like to take this opportunity to just savour the moment.

Ready? Here we go.

The Doctor sticks his hand up Moffat’s crack and pulls out a shard of the TARDIS.

Oh thank you God! You’re too kind to me!

Cold Blood is terrible in every way. Chris Chibnall tries so hard to replicate the success of the original Doctor Who And The Silurians, but forgets what made the original so good to begin with. If you’re interested in the Silurians and/or want to get into the classic series, I urge you to watch the original Silurian story. It’s dark and morally complex with well written, nuanced characters and the ending has a shocking and tragic impact because you actually grow to care for both sides. If you’re prepared to look past the bad 70s special effects and cheap looking rubber latex monster designs, it’s a treat. The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood on the other hand is an absolute failure that pales in comparison to the original. The characters are one dimensional, the moral debate is reduced to two sets of extremes with none of the complexity or nuance the story requires, and I didn’t give a single shit about anyone or anything. The Silurians deserve so much better than this.