#my goal is for this to read like a jack saint video

[zed-the-buggy]

ok so larry and geeta

i really hate to rag on a character other people like for my own blorbo so uh, geeta fans i am so so sorry i would recommend skipping this post, i doubt its actually this deep </3 you are allowed to like her prommy

ok but ACtual analysis time, what the FUCK is up with larry and geeta (people who have never had a shitty two faced boss before ask. /j)

larry expresses anti institutional ideologies a lot, he wants to do things outside the system hes in will allow. he expresses a lot of negativity about his position, a lot of remarks which could rock the boat. which they HAVE with the amount of people now realizing most gym leaders have second jobs. and the system might! be kinda fucked! and deal shitty pay and is just kinda a whole gimmick of an industry in the whole universe. and larry sorta points directly at that, when he actively complains about Having to be a gym leader, Having to be an e4 member.

Geeta in this position would fucking hate Larrys guts! and would also point to her just quietly not saying anything when the player likes larry most. Because Geeta doesnt just dislike larry in this position. Geeta dislikes the ideals hes lowkey pioneering here. And when the player likes larry, its like the player is siding with larry. The player believes hes in the right, not Geeta, and it directly pits the player and Geeta at odds, in a very quiet way.

Geeta cant say shit. Geeta has to keep up the appearance of one big happy league full of amazing, positive members and they're all strong and etc etc. She keeps the facade of the entire league. Whether she genuinely loves the league or not, she has to keep an incredibly dedicated face up about the view of the league. But this same rule doesn't apply in private. The gym leaders, her workers have to keep that facade also, especially with Geeta, but Geeta doesnt have to give them that same light of day. Geeta can do whatever she wants, and the gym leaders just kinda have to deal with it.

i very much believe geeta and larrys relationship proposes this really. really sad idea. because geeta is larrys boss, and they. really dont like eachother! and geeta has. power. larry is afraid she will "dock his pay" for chitchat. but really it comes down to his chit chat going against the status quo, the status quo which Geeta benefits from. And ultimately, she does have the power to dock him for chit chat. She can rob him for being honest. And while Geeta's true treatment of the gym leaders as a manager will probably remain unknown, Larry's existence really offers the idea that it's probably not a great role.

Larry is not special. And thats the problem. Hes not breaking ass to go all out on a cute gimmick, hes not loving the institution as much as everyone else is to the point of doing more than its worth. Hes just doing the bare minimum to get by. Actively complains about his job, which for people in the right spheres it could seem like a huge deal to be a gym leader, and an elite four member. like bro! thats awesome! you just get to do pokemon battles all day! but really its not. once you live in the system, and you get sick enough of it, it loses its luster, and you realize that its just another grind, dodging pay cuts, trying to please the right people and constantly bust ass just to pay for the rent on your apartment and maybe groceries.

Larry is a pawn in the same system as everyone else. Geeta needs larry to be special. But he wont be. And Geeta doesn't take well to that.

Thats why hes the exceptional ordinary man. His ordinariness is what makes him the exception.

[fiftytwotwentytwo]

Closing the Book on 52 Books

I saw a YouTube video not too long ago where a person talked about how they also read 52 books in one year and how it changed their life.

So, is my life changed?

No.

But I will say a weight has been lifted.

I initially started this challenge because I could not remember the last time I read a book (It had been at minimum 2 years since I read a book) and I wanted to fall in love with reading - I wanted to make it a lifelong habit.

Well - it certainly could have been my book choices but most of the time I felt like I was doing homework. I also thought by reading almost everyday that my reading speed and comprehension would increase - to be honest I never measured it AND don't know how to measure it, but I feel like I am about the same as I was.

What will happen after this?:

With my personality - I have recognized that I can drop things pretty easily without remorse. I could (and most likely) easily slide back into not reading books again.

A reverse addiction....

A Reverse Addiction is coy way of me saying that laziness is my real addiction.

Man-Oh-Man, I absolutely love doing nothing. I could do nothing for weeks if I could afford to or didn't have obligations (my internet persona is going from self appointed "Person Amongst Saints" (big JK right there) to a real Piece of Shit - no JKs there) AND I recognize that about myself.

And since laziness is an obvious realization for myself I started creating grand, yet arbitrary, goals for myself each year.

Back in college an acquaintance stated the "challenges" I set for myself were just punishements to keep me living in misery and I would have to disagree - yes - sometimes the goal I can set for myself can be tedious, exhausting, and eat away at my social engagements - but at the same time I like having something to look forward to - something to break me of my laziness - and it wouldn't be too far fetched to say that I don't at least least learn something new (either in knowledge or internalized retrospection).

Anywhosel, back to the books - Will I continue reading?

Well, I not going to worry about - I not going to set goals - so I do forsee I will probably not read much. In a perfect world What would be nice is if read about 1 to 1.5 books per month... 12-18 books per year... but no promises to myself.

.

.

If I do seek out some books - Here are some author's on my "booklist":

V.E. Schwab: I love their writing style - read two books already by Schwab. I have a third book of theirs already collecting dust that I am somewhat excited to read.

.

Taylor Jenkins Reid: Read two of her books - Thought they were good. Enjoyed a small discovery that her stories/characters live in the same universe - I wouldn't mind reading more of her stuff.

.

Stephen King: Only read one of his books, but I was thoroughly impressed and of course he has a reputation to stand up too.

.

Agatha Christie: I was a bit skeptical - but her mystery books are legit and I could use more mystery in my life.

.

Lee Child: This one I think I was most shocked by - Killing Floor (first installment to the Jack Reacher series) was sooo good. I think I wouldn't mind following Ol' Jack Reacher around.

.

Kurt Vonnegut: This dude has some effing style when it comes to his work - dark humor and a bit absurdist - kind of elevated punk.

.

.

And Now - Here is the list of books from my self described Worst Reads to my Favorites:

The Love Hypothesis (Wasted Potential - BS premise)

Ready Player Two (An absolute fall from grace - Made me Hate fictional versions of John Hughes and Prince which in turn made me non-fictional despise the author)

The Hating Game (IMO - Hot Garbage)

Interview with a Vampire (Depressing)

American Psycho (No Charm - Boring)

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Artful, Poetic, Repetitive, Dull)

Midnight Sun (An unreadable cash grab)

Brave New World

Last of the Breed

The Fuck-Up

Eat, Pray, Love

All About Me

The Midnight Library

Tuesdays with Morrie

Feed

Murder at the Vicarage

The Paris Apartment

Snow Crash

Carry On

Cinder

Leviathan Wakes

Grey

Crushing It

The Unhoneymooners

No Memes of Escape

Where The Crawdads Sing

Silver Screen Fiend

Yearbook

Mexican Gothic

Survivor

Invisible Monsters

Malibu Rising

Vengeful

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone

The Maidens

Breakfast of Champions

Coma

The Storyteller

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Death on the Nile

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Verity

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

Circe

Song of Achilles

Jurassic Park

Pulp

11/22/63

Killing Floor

The Confederacy of Dunces

Slaughterhouse-Five

Vicious (Read Vicious in late January and I still think about to this day -Could not put it down - Fun, Exciting, Dark, Read like a Movie)

RED = Cannot Stand / Unbearable

BLUE = Highly Recommend / Keepers / Will Re-Read

GREEN = A New Favorite - Top 5 for Life

[kuuderekun]

"There's not gonna be any fireworks"

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/08/theres-not-gonna-be-any-fireworks.html

For 8 years I have held the position that The Dark Knight Rises is a great stand alone film but a crappy sequel to Nolan's first two Batman movies.  But that latter criticism was always expressed as merely nerdy whining that it contradicted what I felt The Dark Knight was saying was gonna happen after the credits rolled. However I have come to terms with having a deeper ideological issue with TDKR even as a stand alone film, that has also shown how it's in my eyes incongruity with Nolan's prior Batman films had more substance then even I thought. The Dark Knight Rises becoming it's endgame made the Nolanverse quite possibly the most Pro-Cop and Anti-Anarchy interpretation of Batman ever.  And perhaps that was always where it was destined to go, Batman Begins has all this Police Corruption stuff taken from Year One and The Long Halloween, but it was kind of always implying this is unique to Gotham and why Gotham uniquely needs The Batman.  And then TDK had the sonar plot that I've grown more conflicted on how it was handled.  But still the first two movies can be authorial intent or not read as pretty Anarchistic and here's why. For all the talk about Ledger's Joker being an "Anarchist" his view of Human nature is one actual philosophical Anarchists reject, when he says "when the chips are down, these civilized people, will eat each other" he is expressing a Hobbesian view of Human nature.  Watch the Jack Saint video on Post Apocalyptic fiction for a primer on what that means. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwVN95XfOPM BTW in this movie of the scenes where The Joker is at least seemingly explaining his world view and motivations, what he says to Batman is where I think he's most honest, Batman is who he sees himself as making this argument with.  He lies to Batman about a basic statement of fact by switching Dent and Rachel's locations, but not about his goals and philosophy.  What he said to Dent was I think partly honest but also designed to "push" Dent where he wanted. At the climax of the movie comes the scene which provides the title of this post, where all of the sudden Batman of all people is the DC character who sounds like an Anime protagonist expressing faith in the innate goodness of humanity.  And he is proven right and The Joker is proven wrong just like in The Killing Joke. However there is a frequent take that the fall of Harvey Dent means The Joker did win, which is how The Joker saw it, he wanted to think he already had Batman in a no wins scenario.  But from an Anarchist perspective what does that actually prove?  The one person corruptible enough for him to corrupt was an agent of the state, Gotham's second highest ranked politician.  And he needed to vindicate Dent's distrust of two corrupt cops to do it.  Even The Joker's victory vindicates actual Anarchism more then it does Hobbesianism. But then comes The Dark Knight Rises with it's Tale of Two Cities inspired plot, Bane's plan is a Statist's perception of Anarchism much more so then The Joker's was.  And thus this film suddenly is vindicating a Hobbesian view of the unwashed masses while glorifying The Police with a heroic last stand. However let's return to the Sonar plot of The Dark Knight.  The common cynical reading of the film is that it's saying this was okay in this extreme circumstance since it did work.  First of all I think arguing an authoritarian measure shouldn't be done because it doesn't work is the cheap way out.  You can argue all day long that the death penalty isn't a good deterrent and torture doesn't get people to tell the truth and I would not consider you wrong, but I also feel those methods are inherently amoral even if they did work. The Sonar did work for Batman at first, but it also glitched out and caused him to lose the actual physical fight with The Joker.  The fact is the people on those ferries are who actually defeated The Joker and not just ideologically, since The Joker probably wouldn't have been caught so off guard by that glove trick if he hadn't been frustrated by there being no fireworks. The one thing that was always going to need to be a part of the third Nolan Bat-Film was for the truth about Harvey Dent to come out and for Gotham to move past it's idealization of a fallen idol.  However everything surrounding what TDKR did with that undermined what the prior two films had built.

[spidersmiceandeverythingnice]

Gonna write my scatterbrained Spicy Hot Takes on Agartha before the news is stale and I delete this annoying and boring chapter from my mental landscape, so bear with me:

I think Agartha’s main issue was just straight up poor writing. The Japanese direct translations being as downright offensive as they were is one thing - but overall, the chapter is just one plot contrivance after another. It tries so, so hard to go for a certain tone but can’t seem to stick to any one thing or idea. Disregarding themes about sexuality probably would have been the very best way to go about this chapter, since I think the most interesting part was the theme about storytelling and in-authenticity - we all know that That Line was annoying af in a game like FGO, but it CAN work in a series like Fate as a whole. I had a helluva long day at work so allow me to explain in the least scatter-brained way I can manage right now:

Here’s what I’m thinking: Scheherazade, whose name I guarantee I will spell wrong/differently every time I write it even though I’ve been able to pronounce it properly since I was thirteen (I was in a speaking competition and told some of the Thousand and One Nights using her framework as the opening monologue, long story short ANYWAY -) is traumatized by her ordeal with the king. This is a really good and interesting thing to explore! Fitting it in with the theme of storytelling - Scheherazade is deeply afraid of dying and will do whatever it takes to live, so she makes a fantasy world and fills it with legends, and feeds their energy to a Holy Grail. With this, and the power of a Demon God at her side, she plans to reveal magic to the human world in the most destructive fashion possible, allowing the fantastic to become ordinary, and destroying the Throne of Heroes itself in the process. Fate is a series were stories have power - but Scheherazade survived basically by telling the most fantastical, interesting tales she could and never finishing them. She always would pause in the middle, and say, “That’s all for tonight.” I think this is the kind of thing we can run with in terms of setting.

Dahut is the weirdest example because it’s the one story in the chapter that I know next to nothing about. At one point it’s mentioned that Dahut is impossible to summon as a Servant, and so Drake was “forced” into the role of the Pirate Princess. Ys is probably the weakest part of the chapter for that, but I did like the idea of her being “Drake Alter,” where Drake vibrantly pursues her goals and desires but takes nothing for granted; Dahut gives into her every whim and takes absolutely everything for granted. The conflict between “Drake” and “Dahut” should have been emphasized more instead of having the player/Da Vinci dismiss her as “Oh, it’s not Drake, except when she conveniently comes back to delivery us the MacGuffins Ex Machina in the eleventh hour.” Dahut has little connection to Drake - it’s not her story, but a role she was forced into because Scheherazade was building a very specific kind of world. Therefore it is inauthentic. Perhaps that’s all it needs to be in this context. 

This can also work with the Amazons. Scheherazade never told stories of the Amazons, but she has access to basically all stories in the world through her Noble Phantasm - she learns that they are a society of warrior women who live without men, and so decides that they will be a society which oppresses men due to her fear/bitterness towards men after the ordeal she suffered through. The “oppressing men” plotline was honestly dumb all around but using the Amazons as a mechanism to explore Scheherazade's trauma would’ve been more interesting than just having them be the Big Bad before the Big Bad Columbus Reveal: Scheherazade doesn’t like fighting, but wishes that she had been strong enough to protect herself. Because she views herself as a coward and her ordeal with the king has complicated her view of sexuality - “I’m better suited to a bedchamber than a battlefield” - she uses the Amazons of Agartha as a mechanism to cope. 

This brings us to Wu, whose design I’m still not happy about even though I think the in-story justification is somewhat fair. (Let Helena and Wu be gray-haired grannies together or so help me!) Wu was absolutely an authoritarian ruler who did, in fact, invade and conquer several nations and institute a terrifying network of secret police. In her later life, she was given to decadence - but her tenure on the throne showed her to be a highly competent administrator. Notably, she ruled over an era of religious tension and balanced matters quite well, and though she was accused of undoing meritocracy to put her supporters into power, many of the men she appointed held positions in government long after she’d died because they were actually good at their jobs. Wu has been heavily mythologized over the years - later Tang emperors and Neo-Confucian scholars wrote her off (Wu founded her own dynasty under her own name, so they kind of had to legitimize it somehow), she became associated the nine-tailed fox spirit thanks to a few popular novels and poems, etc., etc., etc. The crazy thing is that Wu actually left very few records of herself behind, apart from some poems. Even the inscription on her tomb is blank! People can say whatever they want about her - it’s extremely difficult to know the full truth of the matter without any objective observers in the field (and without Wu’s own words to give context/another story), especially if you don’t read any Chinese. 

BTW - the first thing I learned history class is that when you’re dealing with primary sources, you must always remember that translators have agendas. Every word is a deliberate choice, and it changes the meaning from the original text. When dealing with historical documents, this is not always a good thing. 

Scheherazade reads some, but not all of these stories, and integrates Wu into her world as the sadist empress with an iron grip on her decadent mythical city. 

Do you see what I’m getting at here? It’s a lot, but I’m not done. Now we have to deal with Columbus - there’s “In Defense of Columbus” video is floating around in the Agartha tag, but I haven’t watched it in full and haven’t done like, any intensive research on Columbus in particular, so I’m going to apologize right now for any historical inaccuracies/misconceptions that I’m about to write. The point I want to make here mainly is that Columbus, like Wu, has been heavily, heavily mythologized for both good and evil at various points. The thing about Columbus that is also interesting is that the authenticity of his journals is or was apparently a subject of debate. The man who published most of them actually happened to be Bartolomew de las Casas - one of the founders/first vocal supporters of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The reason de la Casas supported this is because he believed that using African labor would be an improvement over enslaving the native populations of the New World. Soon after, he had a change of heart and devoted the rest of his life to fighting against slavery in all forms. De la Casas went on to be named a saint, and was possibly the first person in history to propose the idea of universal human rights - which is how I had heard of him until literally just this afternoon; I had no idea he’d ever supported the slave trade until I was looking up basic info about Columbus’s writings so I could write this long-ass post. History is full of complicated people. 

But as I mentioned in Wu’s bit, it’s very important to note that in many ways, Columbus is literally just whatever people decide he is. Like, he never even set foot in any land that would become the United States, and yet he’s a huge symbol here! Along these lines, his amnesia would fit the theme of inauthentic storytelling, choosing what to read and what to believe in. Columbus regaining his memories was an understated moment, which is actually fucking fantastic because it could be used to really emphasize the choice that is being made here. He’s a Heroic Spirit who can choose to be whatever he wants. He can choose to be the simple hero-explorer that schoolchildren sing about, or he can choose to be the Big Bad, the first and perhaps most infamous conquistador. And he chooses to be the bad guy. That is so fuckin’ fantastic, y’all! I honest to God love that not only did FGO portray Columbus as a villain of history but that the bad reputation is something he chooses to maintain! I can write a list of Servants who were less than stellar people and got a makeover for Fate. Nero is probably one of the worst examples but like - Ozymandias absolutely owned slaves in his life as a pharaoh. Hercules and Medea murdered their own children. Asterios literally ate humans as the Minotaur. Gilles de Rais exists as a playable character. Jack the Ripper is your daughter. Hell, Nobunaga burned temples with the monks still inside - but she feels bad about it now! Enough digressing but I a hundred percent get why Japanese fans found Columbus “refreshing” at his introduction. He owns his cruelty, his desire to exploit others - he challenges the narrative that everyone is redeemable because he doesn’t even want to be redeemed, he just wants to get rich and famous, and he doesn’t give a shit who he steps over in the process! Like, Columbus said, “I’m just doing what comes naturally,” at one point when he still had amnesia, so when he got his memory back and turned on the player, I really would’ve liked for him to say is something like, “You’ve already decided that I’m the bad guy, right? You know my story, and I’m nothing if not a man of my word.”

These kinds of questions/debates could have been used to emphasize the themes of Agartha. Legends are what people decide they are. People make choices and history decides whether they were good or evil or important retroactively. Can you know what someone is like by reading a translation of their poetry? Can you judge a king’s reign by the words of their successors or their rivals? Does the context of a story matter? This all could have been super interesting to explore!

Like I said, the main theme of Agartha being “inauthentic storytelling” could have been hella, hella good considering that this is a world created by Scheherazade’s fears and trauma feeding into her escapist desires. But Minase’s incompetence as a writer made everything so hamfisted and awkward that everything just suffered under his desire to insert his fetishes at every moment. It was so obvious that he didn’t read any material for old Fate characters - like Astolfo you poor sweet thing, you deserved so much better! - and even the new characters that he clearly did research on, like Columbus, fell flat because he couldn’t figure out what he was trying to say beyond mildly-to-extra offensive sex jokes.

[lil-nova]

Hello, World!

Nice to meet you, I’m Nova!

A Blurb About Myself

Age: 20

Pronouns: She/Her/They/Them

Interests: horror, astronomy, art, story-writing, video games, make-up

Education: IT degree - Graphic Design

Fav Current Game: Valheim

Fav Current Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1

Fav Current Banger: No One Knows - Queens of the Stone Age

Loved Music Artists: Paramore, Gorillaz, Vocaloids, Ashinikko, Poppy, Saint Motel, IDHBTFM, Jack Stauber, Pogo, LiS OST, Vantage, Studio Killers, Doja Cat, S3RL, beabadoobee, Porter Robinson, Colony House, Boy Pablo, MGMT, Daft Punk, Hardwell

Loved Artists: Trevor Henderson, Junji Ito, Kastushika Hokusai, Simon Stålenhag, Hayao Miyazaki, Francisco Goya

Goals: Finding my muse again, feel like myself, find my definition of success, loving myself

What I Wish to Use my Blog For

I would love to get back into writing short stories again. Poems would also be cool. For this blog, I will use it as a way to dump anything and everything I feel during the time being. I have realized that a lot of the things I think about never gets out, so this will be a way of me expressing myself. I start counseling for the first time this coming Tuesday (02/22/2022) @ 2pm. I took this as a sign to start things I’ve always wanted to do. 

Cringe culture stifled a lot of my creative drive, and now all I have left is the motivation from a looming grade in art classes. I don’t want to live that way. I want to be free from my fears and the constant need to please everyone. I hope great things come from me expressing myself more freely. If you read this all the way through, thank you and I hope you can stick around <3

[theamberfang]

Goblin; Journal 508

I’m writing this journal entry right after watching this video from Jack Saint about [what I consider to be] a social media horror story. I considered sharing the video on its own, but I’m only especially interested in the early parts of the video, and I’d rather minimize the impact I have perpetuating the story (even if it’s been a couple of years, and it’s probably not especially relevant).

Anyway, yeah, I’m particularly interested in the stuff about how basically everything we do is labor in a culture of neoliberal capitalism. No matter how innocuous something you post online is, there’s always that possibility that it blows up, giving you exposure, and maybe opening up opportunities. There’s always that “opportunity goblin” nagging at you about how you could profit from what you’re doing right now.

And watching the video, it struck me how a lot of the effort I put in to check how concerned I am about notifications, and making sure I maintain the illusion that no one reads anything I write, and generally do my best to ensure that my main focus with this journal—and my blogs as a whole really—are primarily for me: is all a means of fighting back this opportunity goblin. It’s really the source of so much of my anxiety surrounding social media. It may just be at the center of my anxiety in general; like, what most of my anxieties boil down to is fear over having to trust my livelihood to a social exchange that I have to measure up to. The more direct that is, the more anxious I get, which is why job searching and job interviews and everything having to do with jobs terrifies me.

What I’m really scared of is anyone having power over me. Now that I’ve realized it, that must be why I was drawn to anarchism so quickly, so fervently.

But no matter how hard I fight to keep my distance from the goblin, I understand that I cannot be free from it—not so long as I live within this culture. Whenever I write these journal entries, even now, I have this vague hope that maybe I could justify a Patreon. Or maybe someone would come along and offer me a job because of the way I write. And those very hopes let the anxiety creep in: the worry about needing to be “good enough.” It’s not really some sort of nonsensical standard that I hold myself to: it’s the standard that I understand the world to hold everyone to. It’s the subconscious understanding that everything I put out there is a product to be sold—“if it’s good enough, I can live off of it.”

And I so desperately want to be free of this goblin. I just want to genuinely be able to do what I want. I don’t want to have this nagging feeling that I might be able to profit off of the things I write so long as I make it “marketable.” I don’t want to worry about whether or not something I share or post fits with my “brand”—which is something I’ve hardly put conscious thought to, but it’s definitely there.

Before watching that video, I was already planning to talk about how I was notably happy about my Villainess ramblings getting a bunch of notes and the disappointment in my Bookworm post getting no attention. I specifically wanted to discuss why that difference was there and what it means about the goals I have with my secondary blog. I’ve trained myself to understand that fighting this goblin is important for my own mental health. And even this is something I’m becoming mighty tired of.

[junker-town]

Super Bowl commercials, ranked

Screenshot: Cheetos

You’ll cry, you’ll laugh, you’ll yawn.

The Super Bowl is here, which means we have the most-watched TV program of the year. With all those viewers comes an exorbitant advertising cost, up to a record $5.6 million for a 30-second ad.

Spending all that money brings with it a ton of eyeballs, and brands try to make it worth it with their most ambitious spots. This year’s Super Bowl commercials run the gamut, from tear-jerkingly sweet to face-punchingly infuriating. Here’s a look at the most memorable — good, bad, and in between.

The home runs, best of the best

Loretta (Google)

Several of the commercials on Super Bowl Sunday have an A-list cast, with our most recognized stars trying to get us to buy something. But sometimes, the most simple approach can be beautiful.

I first saw this commercial as a pre-roll ad before a different YouTube video. It was so beautifully haunting that I couldn’t bring myself to click “skip ad” once the obligatory five seconds lapsed. Each piano key strike was foreboding, but I couldn’t click away from this poor old man, simultaneously attempting to fend off memory loss and trying to remember his dead wife. A valiant fight against the ravages of time but one we are all destined to lose.

Because I use humor — or “humor” if you prefer — to cope while processing actual human emotion, the main thing going through my mind as tears streamed down my face was that Google should have titled this commercial “Get Back Loretta,” but probably didn’t want to pay exorbitant license fees for Beatles music.

The very Good Dog (WeatherTech)

This ad is tearjerking in a different, more uplifting way. This is a commercial for WeatherTech, but not really about their company at all. WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil used his 30-second spot to thank the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine for saving his dog Scout, who suffered from cancer of the blood cell walls. The commercial promotes a WeatherTech website for donations to help the school, and if that isn’t uplifting enough just look at this sweet, beautiful dog:

Photo: WeatherTech on YouTube

Groundhog Day (Jeep)

It just feels good to see Phil Connors and Ned Ryerson again, and both look 27 years older. There was no The Irishman-style CGI de-aging here. The added weight of all those years make the dread on Connors’ (Bill Murray’s) face that much more real, when he wakes up at the beginning of the commercial. But his day becomes less hellish once he spots a new Jeep, then proceeds to steal along with Punxsutawney Phil for a joy ride.

This is only the second Super Bowl to fall on February 2, so perfect timing to resurrect the classic film. The other Groundhog Day Super Bowl was in 2014, when a defense with Richard Sherman obliterated one of the most dynamic offenses the NFL has ever seen. Hmmm.

Getting the message across

Katie Sowers (Microsoft)

This is a longer version of an ad that has been running throughout the NFL playoffs, expanded for the Super Bowl — a national introduction to Katie Sowers, the offensive assistant coach for the 49ers, and her road to coaching. Sowers is the first female coach and the first openly gay coach in Super Bowl history.

“People tell me that people aren’t ready to have a woman lead, but these guys have been learning from women their whole lives. Moms, grandmas, teachers. We have all these assumptions about what women do, and what men do,” Sowers says. “I’m not trying to be the best female coach. I’m trying to be the best coach.”

The message is as clear as it is inspirational. Solid work all around.

The Secret Kicker

This features an anonymous placekicker nailing a field goal, but once the helmet comes off to reveal it was Carli Lloyd (joined in the commercial by her USWNT teammate Crystal Dunn), the crowd is at first shocked, then applauds her successful kick. The slogan “Let’s kick inequality” is strong, and it dawned on me — of all the commercials, this has maybe the best chance of coming true. Lloyd clearly has the leg, nailing a 55-yarder during an Eagles' practice in the 2019 preseason. It’s not that farfetched that a soccer star could eventually make it in the NFL. Or maybe once Lloyd is done with soccer she can shift to basketball instead.

Make Space for Women (Olay)

This has the best tagline from any of these commercials — “When we make space for women, we make space for everyone” — and the ad features a real astronaut (Nicole Stott) among the all-female cast. The empowering commercial also touts a #MakeSpaceForWomen hashtag, with Olay donating up to $500,000 to Girls Who Code.

Bizarre, but good

Rick & Morty (Pringles)

I love the manic energy here. Though this is an ad for Pringles, it might as well be a commercial for "Rick & Morty." If the show is anything close to this chaotic, I’m in.

An SNL skit, but funnier

Sam Elliott reciting "Old Town Road" (Doritos)

The regular commercial was fine, featuring a dance-off between Lil Nas X and Sam Elliott, plus haunting mustache CGI work. But for me, the better ad is the one above.

Hearing Sam Elliott read the phone book would be a treat, but hearing him act out lyrics to Old Town Road by Lil Nas X is a delight. The way the others in the bar react to Elliott’s character makes it clear he’s a man to be respected. I can’t help but wonder if this is simply world building, creating a backstory to the character of Wade Garrett so we can finally get that Road House prequel we’ve been clamoring for for decades.

Smaht Pahk (Hyundai)

In theory, this ad should not work as well as it does. The three lead actors — Chris Evans, Rachel Dratch, and John Krasinski — are all from the area, so it adds some authenticity to their exaggerated Boston accents. The commitment to the bit is very strong (I counted 15 times the word park — or rather “pahk” — was used), and that’s what sells it for me. The only better use for a Boston accent in a commercial would have been if Chipotle bought time to apologize for child labah violations.

Plus, this kind of car commercial is a welcome reprieve from the usual type we get during football season, with folks buying giant-bow-adorned cars for their spouse.

Can’t Touch This (Cheetos popcorn)

You had me at M.C. Hammer. That could have been the entire commercial — it basically was, with the main character getting out of various tasks because of the orange Cheetos dust on his fingers — and I would have been fine. But what sold it for me was after the trust fall, the poor guy who fell to the ground, not caught by the orange-fingered culprit, expertly delivers, “Why?” I don’t know why it made me laugh, but it did.

I can’t unsee this

The Shining remake (Mountain Dew Zero Sugar)

Had Bryan Cranston retired after Malcom in the Middle he still would have been revered for playing one of the most memorable and hilarious television dads in history. But Breaking Bad will lead his obituary, and for good reason. Cranston is a wonderfully gifted actor, and his channeling Jack Nicholson in a remake of The Shining for this commercial — the slogan is “as good as the original, maybe better?” — is quite good. But I will not be able to shake this image out of my head for some time:

Screenshot: Mountain Dew on YouTube

The Doppelgänger

This isn’t a commercial at all, but rather a tweeted tease from Honda before the game. I couldn’t help but notice the Helpful Honda guy looks a hell of a lot like Brutus.

Photo: Honda on Twitter

Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Snoozefest

Typical Americans (Budweiser)

I appreciate the sarcastic irony of the ad, using footage of good deeds and various accomplishments, with bonus points for using USWNT Instagram stories from the post-World Cup celebration (but they should have found a way to work in “You’re welcome for this content, bitch!”). But still, this commercial falls flat. It’s probably the best of the boring subgroup here for at least having the decency to avoid jamming some shitty Lee Greenwood song into our ears.

Sonic the Hedgehog

This is a combination commercial and trailer for the upcoming "Sonic" movie, but is probably the most sports-relevant of the ads so far. Michael Thomas of the Saints, Christian McCaffrey of the Panthers, Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix, and NASCAR driver Kyle Busch are known for speed in their respective sports, but all sing the praises of the movie's main character, Sonic the Hedgehog. The inclusion of said athletes does nothing to save this commercial from being boring, however.

By the way, I hope there eventually is a sequel to this "Sonic" movie, just so it can have the tagline “The Sega Continues.”

Jimmy Works It Out (Michelob Ultra)

There are a ton of people who find Jimmy Fallon funny, so this is probably fine for them. This has everything a Super Bowl commercial is supposed to have: elaborate production, cameos from athletes and stars. But I can’t shake the fact that Jimmy Fallon tries too hard; the payoff just isn’t there for me. Maybe I still see him as the guy who laughed through every "SNL" sketch he was ever in.

Ostensibly this is an ad for Michelob Ultra, but it might as well be vanilla beer to match the bland Fallon.

Please, God, go away

Gabe Gabriel is my mortal enemy. He is unavoidable on Super Bowl Sunday, so stay safe out there everybody.

[thisdaynews]

Leicester 1-2 Southampton: Danny Ings scores late winner

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/leicester-1-2-southampton-danny-ings-scores-late-winner/

Leicester 1-2 Southampton: Danny Ings scores late winner

Danny Ings has now scored 16 goals across all competitions this season

Southampton were not motivated by revenge for their 9-0 thrashing by Leicester City in October as they claimed a surprise win at King Power Stadium, says Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl.

Hasenhuttl’s men claimed a deserved victory at the home of the Premier League’s second-placed team courtesy of in-form striker Danny Ings’ late winner.

The Foxes, who were searching for a third successive league win, took an early lead when Dennis Praet tapped in his first goal for the club.

But any thoughts of another easy victory for Brendan Rodgers’ side were quickly dispelled when Stuart Armstrong equalised with a deflected shot.

Ings, who has now scored 10 goals in his last 10 league starts, was a thorn in Leicester’s side all afternoon and having already struck the crossbar twice, he slotted through Kasper Schmeichel’s legs late on.

Leicester thought they had salvaged a draw with a 90th-minute equaliser from Jonny Evans but the video assistant referee (VAR) ruled it out for offside.

“We deserved to win it because we had so many chances. It was a fantastic team performance again,” said Hassenhuttl.

“If you concede the first goal against a team who has previously scored nine against you, you have to be very mentally strong to respond.

“But we left everything on the pitch and we were a little bit unlucky in the first half, so you could feel we had the potential to win the game at half-time.

“We didn’t want to have revenge, we wanted to show ourselves how far we’ve gone in our development.”

The victory sees Southampton remain 12th, but move level on points with Everton and Arsenal, while Leicester stay second but 16 points behind Liverpool, who beat Tottenham.

The victory represents a remarkable turnaround from the previous result between the sides but it was nothing more than the visitors deserved having dominated in the first half and matched Leicester in the second.

But while the Saints shaded the chances, Leicester did have the ball in the net on another two occasions – through Jamie Vardy then Kelechi Iheanacho – but both efforts were disallowed for offside by the on-field officials.

Saints were also awarded a penalty in the second half when Caglar Soyuncu bundled Shane Long over in the box but VAR also overturned that decision.

Relive Leicester 1-2 Southampton

Follow the rest of this afternoon’s Premier League action

Gutsy Saints earn deserved victory

Media playback is not supported on this device

Saints didn’t want revenge for 9-0 – Hasenhuttl

Few could forget the last Premier League match between these two sides – when Leicester ran riot at St Mary’s to claim a record-breaking win.

But since that harrowing night, Hasenhuttl’s side have turned a corner – collecting 20 points from a possible 36.

That total is especially impressive when you take into account it includes wins over Chelsea, Tottenham and now Leicester.

The south coast side are now five games unbeaten in the league and on the evidence of this performance it is easy to see why; they were excellent from the first whistle, with Praet’s opener coming against the run of play.

So when they equalised when Armstrong’s strike found the net, albeit with a heavy deflection off James Maddison, it was not too much of a surprise.

They could have easily gone into the break ahead too, with Ings twice denied by the crossbar as half-time approached.

Leicester were a sterner test in the second half but Saints more than matched them and they would have had a penalty but for the intervention of VAR.

Ings and Long both worked tirelessly in attack, with the former deservedly getting on the scoresheet late on, but it was the defensive display which will have pleased Hasenhuttl most.

They limited the usually creative Foxes to just a few chances and when Saints did come under pressure, Alex McCarthy and Jack Stephens stood firm.

Lacklustre Foxes suffer with heavy schedule

Media playback is not supported on this device

Rodgers expected ‘dangerous game’ against Saints

Foxes boss Rodgers made just two changes to the side held by Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday and his side looked a little heavy-legged.

They were off the pace from the start and Praet’s tap-in from Vardy’s cross came from their first real chance.

And while they did improve in the second half, with Maddison dictating play with more composure, they were still unable to play with their usual flow.

They were also more open at the back than usual, too, with holding midfielder Hamza Choudhury unable to give his back four the same protection usually provided by the injured Wilfred Ndidi.

However, it’s perhaps unsurprising Leicester’s players looked a little lacklustre, given they played nine matches between 14 December and the match with Saints.

That is a hectic schedule even by the Premier League’s standards and means Rodgers is likely to be thankful for the eight-day break before they travel to Burnley on 19 January for their next match.

Man of the match – Danny Ings (Southampton)

The former Liverpool and Burnley striker was a threat throughout and after missing a one-on-one early in the game and hitting the bar twice, he finally scored a goal his endeavour deserved to clinch all three points for his side

‘It couldn’t have gone any better’ – what they said

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl:“You could feel in every second of the game that we could win today. So to come back from behind one down with the history of the first game – it was so intense.

“It was a very important game for us this season to see how we play now – we have changed our mindset and worked to hard to play in a successful way. Watching this team is enjoyable at the moment.”

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers:“The performance probably didn’t merit anything from the game. The players kept going right to the end and kept fighting.

“We didn’t press the game strong enough, or well enough, and then when we had the ball, we made too many mistakes when we had the ball.

“So, it looked like up until the end, it was going to be a draw, which we would have taken because we didn’t play well. “However, they played through our midfield too easily and then they get in and get the goal, so a disappointing result for us.”

Southampton striker Danny Ings on BBC Match of the Day:“I am just happy to be scoring goals for the team. You saw today, the team do their best to provide the chances, they work so hard behind me I feel there is a little bit more pressure to put them away.

“After hitting the bar twice I thought maybe it wasn’t my day but we all stuck in there and I thought we deserved to win. How we have been over Christmas and since then has been massive for us and the club moving forward and long may it continue.

“It speaks for itself, the work we do on the pitch, we did everything we could at that time to turn it round [after the 9-0 defeat to Leicester], it couldn’t have gone any better than that. I’m so proud of us as a team and how far we have come.”

Ings’ hot streak continues – the stats

Southampton have claimed three away Premier League victories in a row.

Leicester have lost consecutive home Premier League games for the first time under Brendan Rodgers, having been defeated in just one of their first 14 matches at the King Power under him in the competition (W10 D3 L1).

Southampton are the first side to concede 10+ goals against a specific opponent (Leicester City) in a single Premier League season since Everton did so against Arsenal in 2017-18 (10).

Leicester City have scored the opening goal in 13 of their 22 Premier League games this season (W11 D0 L2) – only Manchester City (14), Chelsea (15) and Liverpool (16) have done so on more occasions in 2019-20.

40% of Danny Ings’ Premier League goals have been scored this season (14/35) – indeed, he is the highest-scoring player for the Saints in a single Premier League season since Jay Rodriguez in 2013-14 (15).

Dennis Praet is the 14th different player to score a Premier League goal for Leicester this season, only Liverpool have had more (excluding own goals). Indeed, only in 2016-17 (16) have the Foxes had more different scorers in a season.

Leicester’s Jamie Vardy has had a hand in 21 Premier League goals this season (17 goals, four assists) – two more than any other player.

Stuart Armstrong’s equaliser was his fourth Premier League goal for Southampton and his first since December 2018 (against Manchester United), ending a run of 34 appearances in the competition without finding the net.

What’s next?

Next up for Southampton is a home Premier League game with Wolves on Saturday, 18 January (15:00 GMT), while Leicester travel to Burnley the following day (14:00).

Read More

[existentialspiral]

Classpect Analysis: Mage of Hope

DEFINITION: The aspect of Hope holds ties over possibility, potential, imagination, desire, drive, angels, the infinite, friendship, and the non-capital concept of hope. Hope is an easy enough aspect to talk about, with varied displays, multiple users, and, best of all, several characters speaking with an operative definition of it. As well, it is well shown that Hope has a very specifically defined counter-aspect, that of Rage, allowing us further insight into the aspect. Firstly, on the subject of its heroes, we have Jake English (Page of Hope), who manages two amazingly powerful displays of his power: the Hope Bubble, a literal burst of manifested Hope that somehow contained more energy than that of the Green Sun, and the manifestation of Brain Ghost Dirk. Most obvious is the Hope Bubble, mostly due to its ability to overpower the Green Sun-derived powers of a First Guardian; as a First Guardian can be said to have effective omnipotence due to their ability to harness the limitless power of the Green Sun, then this means that Jake must have been outputting, at a minimum, more power than that of an effectively omnipotent being, possibly even a greater level of infinite power than that of the Green Sun itself. More impressive is Jake’s manifestation of Brain Ghost Dirk, where he not only violates the principal of conservation of mass and energy, but actually creates a living being, with its own mind, memories, drives, and even separate knowledge, entirely because he believed that Brain Ghost Dirk was real (or at least, so long as he was whammied by Aranea into that state). Next we have That Worthless Fuckup (Prince of Hope), who was able to manifest Hope as a destructive force, one capable of overpowering Sollux, something he couldn’t do at any point prior despite having a weapon that has been described as one of the most powerful that the riflekind abstratus would allow (presumably, anything larger or stronger would fall under cannonkind, artillarykind, or seigekind). Most interesting about this display is that, despite That Worthless Fuckup being able to use his power through a wand, the wand in question is stated to be nothing more than an ordinary wand, likely alchemized out of the shitty wands of the shitty wand pile; this implies that That Worthless Fuckup’s wand held power entirely because he believed it held power. As well, as a Prince, That Worthless Fuckup actively destroyed his own Hope, destroying his romantic hopes (by being a stressful genocidal asshat), his personal hopes (by fulfilling his personal role as Orphaner, when an intentional failure would have served him better), and even destroying his hopes within the session (by suicidally attacking the angels of his Land). Lastly is Cronus Ampora (Bard of Hope) and his post-Scratch counterpart, Orphaner Dualscar, who was actually more pitiful (although less miserably pathetic) than his Dancester; unlike That Worthless Fuckup, we haven’t seen Cronus display any hope-related abilities, although it should be noted that, as a Bard, he passively destroyed his own Hope, driving away any potential romance with his slimy personality, ruining potential friendships with his relentless creepiness, and even demolishing his own destiny by abandoning it. Meanwhile, for less-derived and more spoken information, Aranea Serket makes specific mention as Hope being a difficult aspect, due to its strongly-curved growth (that is, it takes a significant amount of time or effort to gain power), but also lists it as possibly the most powerful of all aspects, something borne out by the events of the comic, with the power of Hope being shown as greater than that of Time (and, by mirror implication, Space) with Jake overpowering the young Lord English, who had already gained ‘limitless power’ from his Quest. Lastly, it should be noted that, in general, Hope players tend to be of a rather high opinion of themselves, from the unthinkingly self-important (That Worthless Fuckup) or callous (Jake English) to the outright delusional (Cronus Ampora). As for the powers of a Mage, we really have no solid ground to stand on. Every Mage shown so far has failed to display any active associated abilities, and the Mages in question are all failed examples of their class. However, we can gleam some info from them, through the three shown incarnations of the class: Sollux Captor (Mage of Doom), Meulin Leijon (Mage of Heart), and Meulin’s post-Scratch counterpart, the Disciple (Mage of Heart). More specifically, examining them all gives the following definition: “One who experiences and comprehends one’s aspect.” Sollux notably had comprehension of the ~ATH programming language, a language built on the very concept of doom, and was able to experience Doom in a way no one else ever could, having had both two dreamselves, his original body, his half-ghost body, and his unlife as Erisolsprite in the doomed Game Over timeline, allowing him to die a total of five times, each time experiencing a new expression of Doom. Also notably, Sollux manifested the ability to hear the voices of the imminently deceased, a passive ability that would seem most appropriate for a Seer of Doom, possibly the result of his rejection of his aspect and apathy to his class causing his class to invert, implying an active-passive pairing with Seer. Meulin herself, meanwhile, is noted as having a great deal of skill with shipping, especially in the redrom quadrants, and so can be said to comprehend matters of the heart; additionally, she is stated to have little permanent luck with romance herself, implying that she has dated and been in many relationships with many partners, and thus that she has a great deal of experience in matters of the heart. Lastly, the Disciple is most notable for her relationship with the Sufferer, where it is stated that they fell into every quadrant at once with each other; this unique relationship allowed her to experience the full troll romantic spectrum, the human concept of monogamous romance, the cherub concept of devoted kismessitude, and the leprechaun concept of a “Heart-Moon-Star-Clover-Diamond-Horseshoe-Balloon-Rainbow-Pot” relationship (i.e, a full 3x3 trove); thus, it can be stated that the Disciple was allowed to experience every form of romance, and thus the near-complete experience of the Heart aspect. Now, if you wish for a fuller, more in-depth dissection of the Mage, I recommend preforming one yourself and sharing your conclusions with the community; failing that (or simply wishing to be entertained by my conclusions), I recommend reading my analysis here. With all this, we may now parse the Mage of Hope as, “One who experiences and comprehends imagination, possibility, faith, or hope.” Other Hope players have to rely on a sense of hopefulness and confidence to maintain a connection to their aspect; not so much for the Mage of Hope. The Mage of Hope does not need to keep faith in Hope, because he knows. He has felt the rising joy of his aspect, and known the crushing despair of its absence. Where others are left adrift, wondering what there is to believe in, the Mage of Hope has learned that faith, belief, imagination, these things stand alone, stronger than the weight of ages if you’re willing to keep to them. Sinners and saints, heroes and horrors, the devoted and the desperate, all of these see themselves staring back out the knowing eyes of the Mage of Hope. ABILITIES: The Mage of Hope, as one with comprehension of and experience with Hope, functions as a Jack-of-All-Trades, able to fulfil any needed role the aspect of Hope could allow, which (with Hope being the aspect associated with possibility, potential, and imagination) is essentially every role. Having practice and understanding of his aspect, the Mage of Hope can inspire, manipulate, destroy, assume, or wield Hope itself. This pairing of an extremely varied and viable class with an extremely varied and powerful aspect results in the interesting result of a player who can not only fulfil any actual role, but can actually succeed in any role that doesn’t outright require a specific aspect, or which doesn’t require the specialization of a specific class (such as Thief or Muse). In video game terms, it’s easiest to think of the Mage of Hope as an upgraded Red Mage-Mario; that is to say, someone with access to most, if not every, ability, albeit usually at the cost of generalized weakness (the Red Mage) combined with someone who, while not specialized in anything, is instead passably good at everything (the Mario). Put in raw stat terms, think of other classpects as having a set of stats ranked from 1 to 10, with most classes having 9 or 10 in one or two stats and the rest averaging out to about 5 or 6. In this, the Mage of Hope wouldn’t have a 10 in any stat, but instead would have 7 to 9 in all of them. In more mortal terms, the Mage of Hope is a less-physical SBURBian Superman. At lower levels, it seems likely that the Mage of Hope would be able to access some useful powers of their aspect, likely along the lines of magic attacks or other related abilities, making them an effective lower-level striker, along with their already burgeoning understanding of their aspect’s nature allowing them to help inspire their team and help them with their own issues, such as despair and misery or overconfidence and arrogance; meanwhile, as a learner class, they would be expected to do everything they could to learn more of their session, to tear the lore apart in search of whatever they’d need to bring their session victory. Through their understanding of Hope and its associations they could be expected to come up with some daring plans of action, to accomplish the seemingly impossible, to be generally good at things they set their mind to, and to discover the important secrets and hidden goals of Skaia’s Game, all while also helping to prevent the team from falling to either overconfidence or hopelessness; in other words, a Mage of Hope is probably one of the best possible candidates for a team leader, one rivaled only by most Blood players and some Heart, Mind, Breath, Space, and Time players. This, though, could be countered by their classes influence on their fate, forcing them to experience both the good parts of their aspect and the bad, resulting in spectacular failures and truly hopeless losses. However, while this tendency might be directly problematic, it does serve the triple purpose of both A: teaching the Mage more of his aspect, B: keeping the Mage’s feet on the ground, averting a definite issue with Hope players, and C: helping the rest of the team to not see them as someone ‘beyond’ them, in either status or ego, and so allowing them to actually help and inspire the team to greatness, at least so long as these failures don’t seem to overcome the victories. In other words, “Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.” Upon reaching God Tier, the Mage of Hope experiences a less dramatic increase in direct power than other classes, but an infinitely starker increase in utility; no longer limited to their mortal abilities, the Mage of Hope can directly affect changes they intend upon the world, and with their comprehension of their aspect, they can use their more-limited but wider abilities to far greater effect than others, as well as being able to better use their understanding to help their team, inspiring the doubtful and taming the doubtless, and also being able to divine ever more information from the world by their greater understanding of Hope, including its associations with all that is possible (and thus, impossible), with potential (and, thus, all that merely could be), with imagination (and all that isn’t so conceptually concrete), and with goals (and, by implication, what those goals need to be fulfilled; goals like the breeding and growth of a Genesis Frog). For more direct abilities, sky’s the limit; the power of Hope is essentially limitless, being shown as more powerful than Time, and is directly associated with things such as imagination, so the actual limits of someone who can truly comprehend Hope are difficult to guess. Feats such as the manifestation of imaginary objects, the healing of the injured or despaired, the direct weaponization of Hope, the open manipulation of their power, the free manifestation of Hope itself, these and more all seem to be possible. Any actual limits would likely be psychological, either due to the Mage losing hope or confidence, or due to the Mage simply not yet understanding just how much their aspect can accomplish; in other words, the abilities of one who comprehends Hope are limited by their hope or comprehension. At highest level, the Mage of Hope is closer to a full-fledged deity than almost any other God Tier player, having abilities far in advance of some entire classpects, or even entire aspects. Being someone with both power and comprehension of imagination, possibility, faith, potential, and the infinite, the actual direct abilities of a Mage of Hope at their absolute upper limits are less, “awesome magic powers of amazing strength,” and more, “localized and absolute control of reality.” By this point, the Mage of Hope can be said to not only have as much power as they can get, but also as much understanding of Hope as is possible, and so any actual limits on their abilities are purely in relation to the level of power they can output; as the power of Hope (albeit channeled through a Page, THE most directly powerful class) was able to overcome the outright statedly-limitless power of the Green Sun itself, it is %100 possible that a full-fledged and conceptually fulfilled Mage of Hope is truly omnipotent; if one were to establish limits they would likely be in the area of power, leaving the Mage as only being able to use their power limitedly, either as full omnipotence within a specific area, or as only being able to realize one effect at a time, or even only being able to manifest their effects limitedly (such as being limited in the size of imaginary objects they could conjure, or in the actual joule output of their Hope Beams). Of course, all of this doesn’t mean that a Mage of Hope is unbeatable. As their abilities are directly tied to their imagination, they are also limited by their imagination: if the Mage in question can’t think of a solution to a problem, then all the power in the world isn’t going to help. Also, as the power of Hope is implicitly tied to friendship, a Mage of Hope is likely going to need the support of their friends to use their power fully; indeed, as Hope is so heavily tied to belief, self-image, and positivity, any disbelief or negative emotions and thoughts could have limiting or even outright depowering effects. Also, while the power of Hope is great, greater than any other aspect, it cannot actually do everything; no matter how powerful a Mage of Hope becomes, he can never travel backwards through time, or change the lines of other’s thoughts, or manipulate luck, or breed the Genesis Frog, or to truly create something from nothing. Lastly, the greatest weakness of a Mage of Hope at the top end of their power is that, while they have something close to omnipotence, they would not have omniscience; “It doesn’t matter how fast you are, how good you are, ‘cause it’s always the bullet you didn’t even see that gets you.” QUEST: We aren’t actually shown any proper Quests for a Hero of Hope, or for a Mage; Jake’s Quest was never shown, and neither was Sollux, Meulin, or Cronus’, and That Worthless Fuckup actively sabotaged his own Quest. However, we can gleam some information on the very little presented to us. On the side of Mages, the only thing we have to go on is his Land, the Land of Brains and Fire, which ties directly to the source of his power (Sollux’s “hiideou2 mutant brain”) and his suffering (the “cacophony of phy2iical paiin [his] hiideou2 mutant braiin cau2e2”), although that is, unfortunately, the only real information we have on his land. On the Hope side, we have the lands of both Jake and That Worthless Fuckup, the Land of Mounds and Xenon and the Land of Wrath and Angels. Jake’s land’s name is, unfortunately, worthless due to his status as Noble of a Void Session, and its actual environment is mostly worthless, being both filled with explorable burial sites (like all Void session Lands) and marked with an X, possibly as a reference to Xenon starting with X, and possibly a once-removed reference to his relationship with Dirk by way of Plato. Lastly, we have That Worthless Fuckup’s Land and Quest, which do provide some information. Firstly, as the Land of Wrath and Angels, it references both Hope and Rage, Hope’s counter aspect. Next, looking specifically, we can note that, with That Worthless Fuckup being a Prince, he seemed to better embody his counter-aspect, destroying his own aspect within himself, displaying his weakness right alongside what her needed to overcome it. Also, while we don’t have any direct observation of his Quest, we do have some info presented to us. Specifically, the info presented by Doc Scratch, who states that That Worthless Fuckup was taught by the angels how to destroy hope with their light; indeed, with that as context, it becomes far more difficult to decide if That Worthless Fuckup was supposed to talk with the angels like in a normal RPG, or if he actually was supposed to slaughter them all, with his growth as a Prince being hampered by his use of a top-tier weapon, or even if it allowed both options. Taken together, I shall posit that the Land of a Mage of Hope would likely have to do with something related to Hope, such as Angels, Joy, Imagination, Crosses, Crescents, Salt, Sanctuaries, or Imagination, and something to do with the character in question’s suffering. An example would be the Land of Loss and Souls. As for Quests I may only speculate, but knowing that the Quest is intended to help players become more complete people and to better fulfil their roles as Heroes, I’d guess that a Mage of Hope’s Quest would purposefully expose them to constant hopelessness, while also showing that sometimes things really are hopeless. To give an example using the above posited Land: the Land of Loss and Souls is home to the wandering ghosts of passed consorts, forced to haunt the land because of the actions of the Land’s Denizen, as well as the living consorts who were left behind. The player’s goal is to help the ghost consorts to move on from their present state, at first by helping them personally, then by completing the grand challenge imposed by their Denizen. As well, the Mage of Hope will have to learn that, while they can fulfill some of the ghost consort’s requests (such as being able to see their long-lost child one last time), some requests are truly impossible (such as a request to have been able to start a family of their own blood, ghosts obviously not being able to sire or birth children). The only denizen shown for Hope players is Abraxas, who becomes less clear as you inspect him. Abraxas is one of the only two Denizens to have a name from a mythology besides ancient Greece, the other being Yaldabaoth. As Yaldabaoth is supposed to be the strongest Denizen for the strongest player, it can also be implied that Abraxas is the weakest Denizen for the weakest player, although this is difficult to judge. As such, until Hussie either shows us Karkat’s Denizen, or shows us the Denizen of another Hope player, we shall have to mark Abraxas as a ‘maybe’. Also, I state now that, as the past section notes, the Mage of Hope is also a character with the potential to be essentially omnipotent; if that isn’t enough to justify the appearance of Yaldabaoth, I don’t know what is. VERDICT: Top. Fucking. Tier. The Mage of Hope is, at its higher levels, one of the best classpects period, and at the height of its power could probably solo a session except for the Frog Breeding; if it weren’t for the ticking clock mechanic, a Mage of Hope might even be able to solo a Dead Session, without any Leprechauns to help. The only thing which curbs it from being unstoppable is a possible power limitation and its dependence on positive thinking, the exact kind of thing that would likely doom a Mage of Hope from actually soloing a session, Dead or otherwise. As it is, the Mage of Hope is still a force to contend with, able to comprehend Hope and so use Hope in almost any way they wish; the only real limits to a Mage of Hope come from a lack of understanding on their part. As well, it seems incredibly unlikely for a realized and dangerous Mage of Hope to ever have any actual loyalty issues, being that comprehension of their teammate’s hopes and dreams is well within their remit. Either as an inspiring leader or competent teammate, it is very hard to do much better than a Mage of Hope. The Mage of Hope needs little in the way of support, being so outright capable with the actual doing of deeds, and so outright requires few things beyond positive attitude. To this end, a Sylph or Bard of Mind, Light, Heart, or Blood would be all they need to keep themselves at the height of their power. The Mage of Hope doesn’t really need much in the way of leading, possibly being the leader themselves, but in the situations that they are a follower, a Breath or Blood player of most classes would do best. For synergies, the Mage of Hope works incredibly well with most classpects, able to adapt to most needs, so the best possible pairings are with most players of Time, Space, Heart, Mind, and possibly Void. Lastly, in the unlikely event that the Mage of Hope goes rogue, you’re in for a bad time. Actually fighting a Mage of Hope requires one to either be resistant to the Mage’s power, or to be able to attack in a way they can’t counter. Witch or Prince of Mind would be a definite, if unsafe, option, as would a realized Page, Prince, or Knight of Rage, and possibly a Knight of Space. Possibly the safest, if not most effective, counters would be a Prince, Thief, Rogue, Witch, Maid, or Knight of Heart, these being generally safe classpects, but still able to fight back against a Mage of Hope.

[sportworldnews-blog]

Premier League: Arsenal's false start under Emery: In holiday mode

Check out https://sportworld.news/soccer-international/premier-league-arsenals-false-start-under-emery-in-holiday-mode/

Premier League: Arsenal's false start under Emery: In holiday mode

Arsenal FC have lost their first two Premier League matches under new coach Unai Emery. Bernd Leno was only sitting on the bench, Mesut Özil was disappointed and the defence seemed to be as flawed as ever despite the newcomers. On Matchday 3 Arsenal will meet West Ham United (Saturday, 4pm live on DAZN and in the LIVETICKER).

Arsene Wenger is on holiday in Corsica and he seems to be enjoying it. “I do a lot of sports, eat with my friends, talk to them, watch the horizon for hours and read every day,” he told the local newspaper Corse Matin. “I’m better than I thought.” While his ex-club is doing worse than you might think.

After 22 years, Wenger had left Arsenal in the summer, or Arsenal Wenger. As the case may be. In any case, Unai Emery came and with him the fulfilment of a desire for something new that had grown in the environment for many years and finally became more and more prevalent. The dreams, however, are adapting to reality. After two Premier League matches and as many defeats, somehow everything works as before. “Calm,” Emery just says, “we have to stay calm and keep working.”

Well, I’ve played two of the toughest opponents so far, the last two champions Manchester City and Chelsea FC. But still: Arsenal lost both games (0:2 and 2:3). Wenger was not sitting stoically on the bench, Emery stood gesturing in front of it. But otherwise? Both games were played on the pitch, which could have happened under Wenger. At times Arsenal played quite well, but missed a good goal-scoring chance, failed on the defensive and lacked what some call the “last consequence” and others the “absolute will to win”.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, for example, shot over Chelsea completely free-standing from close range. Shkodran Mustafi spun like a top in the back as Alvaro Morata played him and scored 2-0 in the meantime, a single pass lifted the whole defence at 1-0. Before against City, Raheem Sterling simply passed Hector Bellerin and Matteo Guendouzi and scored 0:1. 0:2 Stefan Lichtsteiner did not follow Bernardo Silva fast enough.

Because such carelessness had already been part of their repertoire last season, Arsenal had concentrated on strengthening their defensive position in the transfer market. Lichtsteiner came from Juventus, Sokratis for 16 million euros from Borussia Dortmund. However, neither of them have yet been stabilizing elements.

Arsenal also hired two talented central midfielders. Lucas Torreira, who was substituted in each case and showed good beginnings. And Guendoizi, who convinced in the preparation, was in the starting line alongside Granit Xhaka against City and Chelsea in the 4-2-3-1 system on the double six, alternating defensive skills with good passes.

And then, for 25 million euros, keeper Bernd Leno came along, whose footballing qualities were to ensure a better game structure from behind. However, the 36-year-old veteran Petr Cech has been in the goal so far – and delivered a relatively devastating false pass against City. The gloating was certain, even from Leno’s former club Bayer Leverkusen.

“If you’re all wondering how to open the game from behind,” Leverkusen wrote on his English Twitter account. “We may know someone.” And put in addition a video of a successful player opening Lenos. Cech’s reaction to the humorous post proves that they are a bit tense at Arsenal: “At Arsenal we share important values that make us a great club, not only on the pitch. Fair competition, professionalism and sportsmanship are the greatest values we teach young footballers, and it is sad to see that other clubs do not share the same values”.

The man with the number 1 on his back as well as the man with the number 10 were the cause of controversy in the two games so far, but last season he had still worn the 11, but when the departure of Jack Wilshere, the former 10 player, was certain, he secured the prestigious 10: Mesut Özil. After his thunderous resignation from the DFB team and with his new shirt number, he seemed to have been freed in preparation and even scored in a 5-1 test win over Paris Saint-Germain. But then came the start of the season. Just like the hopes of a fast Renaissance arsenal under Emery, Özil’s hopes of a fast Renaissance burst.

After the defeat against City, the choice was: “Özil sneaked through the game. No quality. No attitude to work. Nothing.” Or: “He got the number 10 and didn’t return anything.” (Mirror) In the following defeat against Chelsea, Emery Özil changed in the 67th minute. Thereupon he crept so slowly from the square that the Mirror wrote: “Even a prisoner goes faster to the gallows.” The Daily Mail called Özil passive like a “passenger”. But he’s just one passenger among many.

Arsenal is still in a holiday mode that is currently only available to former coach Wenger. “No team can go through a season undefeated,” Cech appeases. If Wenger should look on his mobile phone between his books and the horizon in Corsica and read this headline, he will only smile tiredly and think of the 2003/04 season.

[christianedundal-blog]

Weight-loss.

Just because these two protein options are, in fact, rather Paleo friendly, healthy and balanced options, it doesn't imply you can't pick something a bit a lot more off the beaten track when it relates to prepping an unforgettably great tasting banquet. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson that stars in Activity of Thrones as Gregor Clegane, also known as The Mountain range, aka Ser Robert Powerful, has actually said to Digital Spy that he understands merely exactly how desperate supporters are to observe a face-off between his personality and also sibling Sandor (participated in by Rory McCann). I am actually going to acquire a duplicate of your publication as quickly as I have actually obtained my income for this month! Remarkable: Invest 3 seasons in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, breaking opportunity in between the Calgary Mustangs, Spruce Stand Saints and also Canmore Eagles (2011-2014). Member of Group Alberta in 2010 and also 2011. In case you loved this article and you would love to receive more details regarding visit the following internet site kindly visit the website. Contended in the Alberta Summers months Games. I am actually appreciating your blog site very much- thank you for all the mouth watering recipes as well as the beautiful photos! That makes an effort so tough though, despite every thing I merely discussed, and also duplicates a GREAT DEAL off the special Far Weep series from activities. Our company've got a number from well-liked indie activities at reduced costs recently along with a couple of that are actually a little bit even more mainstream. Lego Wonder's Avengers is actually rated PEGI 7 in Europe & ESRB E10+ in The U.S.A. for everyone 7 to Ten Years or more mature. There are actually handful of video games as near to their source material as The Hitchhiker's Overview of the Universe. Those interested to know just how greyscaley will Jorah Mormont remain in Activity from Thrones season 7 will certainly be actually revivified to know that Iain Glen, which plays him, has likewise been spotted - although regretfully with no prosthetic scales on. I happened SO NEAR TO DNFing this manual due to the fact that that has around 100 spins as well as none of them make sense. When the gamers from one crew placed the sphere right into the goal from the rivals, the video game thrills the sense from the observers. One favors factors more noticeable and also in your face, the other is actually silent and favors an even more publication based education and learning. Period the ribs liberally with newly cracked pepper and a few dashes of salt. The main reason for this corny assessment is because a many thousand people have already written evaluations for this publication and I'll wager that they possess presently pointed out whatever that I would like to say. You might have read a publication of short stories on Google.com Works, or watched a tv set on Netflix. As well as some laid-back viewers go additionally, presuming that tragic school shootings verify a hyperlink in between such games and also real-world hostility. When you have actually finished operating your means with every one of Lester's purposes, as well as took hold of all from that attractive lolly, you should have a luck to either put in back into the securities market, or even use to buy every company and also property offered in the game world. About Blogging site - ICAP's mission is in order to help creative crafts specialists craft business effectiveness from their artistic enthusiasm. Prior to the hardware deep dives started, Mike Ybarra, Corporate Vice-President of the Xbox as well as Windows Video gaming Platform stopped by to summarize just what he referred to as the 'four backbones' responsible for Scorpio: reclaiming the souls and thoughts from programmers, delivering enough power to hand in a terrific 'accurate 4K' experience, providing complete compatibility with existing hardware and software (and running outdated activities a lot better) as well as - crucially - making sure that Scorpio can easily 'light up' 1080p TVs. Somehow, this book tells me of autumn, my favorite time (perhaps as a result of the previously mentioned resemblance to Something Worthless By doing this Comes), and I presume probably that is going to become a yearly read for me, when I inevitably start to think that pull to observe orange, aroma fruit, and also listen to the completely dry rustling of lifeless leaves as they dance down the road. I perform a variation from these meals virtually weekly - I simply select 3 dry out beans as well as 2 grains and also whatever veggies are in time and adjust these recipes. Video game of Thrones typically airs around April each year, yet the new time 7 won't premiere till July 19, 2017. But the PS4 may present activities in at the very least 900p and very most activities in 1080p rather than your 720p underpowered wind-up jack in the box. Our experts attempt to maintain this checklist as fresh as possible, thus if your preferred diminishes the chart at that point this's certainly not a bad game ... there's only more out there to make an effort. In this manual, the video game continued in their very own method but I had enough from it. There was so much refer to this without this being actually significant - at least not to me since they entirely dropped my attention every single time activity talk came up. Yet this remains in truth an Android jewel - a remarkably smart activity that tampers opportunity travel ... and also your scalp. It's a thrilling, unputdownable publication fixed up along with prohibited love, immobilizing action and also a fascinating game of life-and-death. He properly stories out her profit, regularly conforming is our Bric, at that point he views everything unravel in the way he had actually wished this will. Console children which have actually matured along with an operator in hand may assert, however there is actually still absolutely no better way of participating in just about any game in any kind of genre - not merely shootings - than the mix from key-board as well as mouse. On Video game from Thrones, the very best cutters are actually built coming from a super-strong, however unbelievably light-toned compound called Valyrian steel. When individuals asserted over who had the best activities instead of all this fps and settlement things, I miss out on the really good outdated times. Look out for it in season four, when Brienne as well as the Dog engage in a blood-spattered fight.

[enzaime-blog]

Jack's recovery story from brain tumor

New Story has been published on https://enzaime.com/jacks-recovery-story-brain-tumor/

Jack's recovery story from brain tumor

Rallying Around ‘Jack’ – Buying Time for 11-Year-Old Who Touched the Hearts of His Care Team

He melts hearts with his infectious smile, cheerful attitude and frequent magic tricks.

But the slogan on Haonan Jiang’s T-shirt, which reads “Tough as Nails,” is a more accurate summation of his spirit, and the fight he and his family have been waging.

The 11-year-old from Beijing, China, prefers to be called “Jack.” He is suffering from what is known as an anaplastic astrocytoma, a grade 3 malignant tumor, according to his doctors at Mayo Clinic. The typical survival rate after diagnosis is one to three years.

Jack’s parents, Ben and Lili Jiang, had promised him a trip to see America when he finished primary school. But instead of sightseeing, their focus is now on Jack and doing anything possible to stop, or at least slow, his deteriorating and deadly condition.

Very little pain, and a sign of things to come

The first hint of trouble came last February. After a shower, Jack told his father that his right leg felt the heat from the shower differently from the left one. If Jack turned the water very hot, he didn’t feel any pain in his right leg. He also noted that if he squeezed his leg, there was very little sensation.

By March, Jack’s left leg began to lose strength. Then he lost the ability to feel both legs. He had to work hard to walk, had a halting gait, and used his hands to lift his legs to climb stairs. “A thought flashed in my mind, something is not okay with my son,” says Ben.

Shortly thereafter, Jack was admitted to a Beijing children’s hospital. He received three MRI scans over the span of a week, but the doctors told them there wasn’t much they could do. “It really hurt our hearts, but we didn’t give up,” says Ben. With the help of friends, he had Jack seen at five other top hospitals in Beijing.

Based on the MRI scans, doctors said they believed that Jack needed surgery for a cancerous tumor on his spine. He was still able to walk on his own, so doctors advised against what would be a risky procedure.

“It was very heartbreaking, and as a parent I could not accept that,” says Ben. “My son played all sports, excelled in school, I needed to do everything I could to give my son another chance.”

Friends in America willing to help

Jack’s parents asked their doctor about options abroad, but he wasn’t hopeful. They weren’t sure what to do next. Then Ben read a story on the Internet about a man with an illness similar to Jack’s who traveled from China to America for a successful treatment. When Ben learned that the man had been misdiagnosed, it gave him hope.

Ben recalls begging a Beijing hospital’s administrators to release Jack’s MRI records in a format required by U.S. hospitals.

The family had no friends to help them in the U.S. But they had recently vacationed on Mauritius, a small island off the Coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, where they met a Chinese woman from America, and Lili had saved her phone number. They called and asked the woman about possible friends in the Boston area. She couldn’t help there, but she mentioned that she lives in Rochester, Minnesota, close to Mayo Clinic.

“I didn’t know anyone in America, yet I met someone who lived near Mayo Clinic. It’s like God arranged everything,” says Ben. “I told my wife this is a sign of what we’re going to do.”

Thanks to Ben’s travel promise to Jack, the process of securing a travel visa was already underway. They bought tickets for a flight to the U.S. the day after their travel visa arrived.

After arriving in Rochester in May, the family went to church with their friend. There they met new friends who listened to the family’s story and made sure that Jack’s case came to the attention of Mayo Clinic doctors.

He was admitted to Mayo Clinic Children’s Center, and after a biopsy of his spinal cord tumor was performed in late May, he was given the diagnosis of anaplastic astrocytoma.

Jack’s case is unusual in at least a few respects according to Nadia Laack, M.D., a pediatric radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic. “They are rare tumors to begin with,” says Dr. Laack. And when they are found, she says, “95 percent of them are found in the brain.”

The location of the tumor left the medical team with few options.

Jack’s family and his doctors were not ready to give up, however. Ben recalls his social worker asking them why they had come to America. “Hope,” he answered. “If there is one country that can heal my son, it’s America.”

Rallying around the patient and family

Jack’s doctors thought he might benefit from radiation therapy. They wanted to slow down the rate of neurologic deterioration due to the progression of the tumor and improve the quality of his life.

By the time he was admitted to the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit on the Saint Marys campus, Jack had lost the ability to use the lower half of his body. His father was carrying him to and from bed, so he could go to the bathroom, bathe and eat.

While Jack was receiving therapy on the rehabilitation unit, nurses gathered donated supplies for Jack’s family, and his physical therapist was able to get him a wheelchair. With no insurance, no funds other than personal savings, and the family’s decision to put their home up for sale, Jack’s team ensured he got the care he needed.

“The needs of the patient come first,” says Julia Iafrate, D.O., a resident in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. “So we made it happen. A number of providers acted together to make Jack’s needs come first.”

“The way the team brought their expertise and compassion to advocate for Jack just made me proud and grateful to work at Mayo,” says Sherilyn Driscoll, M.D., pediatric medical director, Mayo Clinic Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. “His team helped make the difference between a sick boy lying in bed and an independent boy joyfully participating in life around him.”

Jack was able to join his family at the Ronald McDonald House in mid-June.

Progress, precious time and a superhero

Doctors designed a four-week course of radiation therapy specifically for Jack, so he could be well enough to return home to China by in August.

“We had very limited options. The goal is really to have tumor control, not a cure. That’s the nature of the disease,” says Mayo Clinic Pediatric Oncologist Amulya NageswaraRao, M.B.B.S.

“We’re buying time, only months really,” adds Dr. Iafrate. “But for an 11-year old child, that has all the meaning in the world for his family. That’s why we rallied so hard – to get him a few good months before he further declines.”

Ben was touched by the extraordinary effort. “From the doctors to the nurses, everyone treats my son and my family as a human being,” he says. “It makes me cry. It makes me cry a lot.”

When Jack first arrived in Rochester, he told his therapists his goal was to be able to walk to school again. He still needs his wheelchair, but since starting radiation treatments that are shrinking his tumor, some movement is returning to his right side, and he can move his leg.

Steroids have helped his appetite to return and he is slowly gaining weight. Jack says he loves his mother’s cooking. And French fries.

Along with video games, Jack is a big fan of Hollywood action movies and wants to be an actor. Hugh Jackman and Chris Evans are on his shortlist to meet. Thanks to the generosity of a Mayo Clinic patient, Jack got his wish.

Jack and his family were to fly to Berlin on their way home to China in mid-August. During a stop there, they visited a film production set and met actor Chris Evans, who plays Captain America. The crew was finishing up the final scenes for the next Marvel Comics movie.

“Awesome,” is how Jack summed up the news when he learned that he would meet one of his heroes.

It’s clear Jack and his family are heroes to his care team who are impressed by their “do everything, do anything” attitude to overcome financial, distance and language barriers.

“When someone feels they trust you, and you are their best hope, it’s hard not to be moved by that,” says Dr. Laack. Dr. Iafrate adds, “I don’t have children yet, but if and when I do, I want a ‘Jack.’ This child will be in my thoughts forever.”

Dr. Iafrate recently chatted with Ben, and told him, “Your family has touched the hearts of many people here. We love Jack. Thank you for being part of our lives.”

The feeling is mutual.

“No one would understand how lucky I feel for my son,” says Ben. “The doctors at Mayo Clinic are really angels whom God sent down to earth. Everyone helps the patients, thinking of many things that we didn’t think of as parents, and they are very happy to do so. That’s really amazing! I wish every doctor could be like Mayo’s one day in China.”

[thisdaynews]

Reaction to Leicester's 9-0 win & build-up to Man City v Villa

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/reaction-to-leicesters-9-0-win-build-up-to-man-city-v-villa/

Reaction to Leicester's 9-0 win & build-up to Man City v Villa

26/10/2019BBC One

9,8209,820

viewing this page

Related Video and Audio

Coming up

Play video Final Score from BBC SportFinal Score

Coming up

Play audio Brighton v Everton from BBC Radio 5 liveBrighton v Everton

14:0014:00

BBC Radio 5 live

Coming up

Play audio 26/10/2019 from BBC Radio 5 live26/10/2019

16:0016:00

BBC Radio 5 live

Coming up

Play audio 26/10/2019 from BBC Radio 5 live26/10/2019

17:0017:00

BBC Radio 5 live

RTL

Got a TV Licence?

You need one to watch live TV on any channel or device, and BBC programmes on iPlayer. It’s the law.

Find out more

Live Reporting

By Neil Johnston

All times stated are UK

Get involved

Send a text to81111 (charged at your standard network rate)

Twitter:Use the hashtag#bbcfootball

Facebook:BBC Sport

here.

5 Live will revert to the round ball from 12:00 BST.

here.

Posted at 10:4010:40

comments

Get Involved – worst footballing nightmares

#bbcfootball or text 81111 – standard message rates apply (UK only)

Ideozu-Frank Sampson:Happened to me in 2007. I went to watch our local derby between Dolphins FC vs Sharks FC for the first time. Was a Dolphins fan, and we were spanked 4-0 to mark my debut as a local team supporter! Consolation? We went to win the Nigerian Premiere League that season!

Posted at 10:3810:38

How things stand…

Man City v Aston Villa (12:30 BST)

BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport

Ahead of the weekend’s Premier League action, here’s how the top of the Premier League lies…

Leicestercatapulted themselves into second place with their demolition ofSouthamptonon Friday night, though,Manchester Citywill return to second if they beatAston Villain Saturday’s early kick-off.

Liverpoolwill hope to continue their unbeaten start at the summit when they faceTottenhamon Sunday, whileChelseaface a tricky trip toBurnleyin today’s late game.

BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport

And at the bottom…

The Saints’ goal difference took a hammering last night which meant they dropped into the relegation zone, withNewcastle,who faceWolvestomorrow, leapfrogging them into 17th.

Watfordsit rock bottom and will look to build on last week’s positive draw atSpurswhen they playBournemouthat 15:00 BST, whileNorwichare searching for a first win in four when they hostManchester Unitedon Sunday.

Posted at 10:3510:35

comments

Get Involved – worst footballing nightmares

#bbcfootball or text 81111 – standard message rates apply (UK only)

SMS Message: Does the Villa match a few weeks ago count as a nightmare? If not, the time when we went to Fulham needing a result to stay up and lost 6-0. Classic Norwich. from Anonymous – don’t be shy, please provide us with a name

Does the Villa match a few weeks ago count as a nightmare? If not, the time when we went to Fulham needing a result to stay up and lost 6-0. Classic Norwich.

Posted at 10:3310:33

Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live

Radio 5 Live will have updates fromManchester CityagainstAston Villabefore full commentary from the 15:00 BST game betweenBrightonandEverton.

Sports Report follows at 17:00 while Alistair Bruce-Ball and Chris Sutton will be taking your calls from 18:00 on 606.

Posted at 10:3010:30

Five changes for City, two for Villa

Man City v Aston Villa (12:30 BST)

BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport

Pep Guardiola makes five changes to theManchester Cityteam which swept aside Atalanta on Tuesday night, as John Stones comes in to make his first start since mid-September.

Elsewhere, Joao Cancelo replaces Kyle Walker at right-back, Gabriel Jesus starts ahead of Sergio Aguero, and Bernardo Silva and captain David Silva, also start.

Raheem Sterling, who bagged an 11-minute hat-trick in midweek, plays from the off, as does Kevin De Bruyne, while Fernandino continues at centre-back.

Man City XI:Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Fernandinho, Mendy; Gundogan, D Silva, De Bruyne; B Silva, Sterling, Jesus.

Subs:Bravo, Walker, Angelino, Otamendi, Foden, Mahrez, Aguero.

BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport

Aston Villaboss Dean Smith makes two changes to the side which beat Brighton last weekend, as Douglas Luiz and Trezeguet come in.

They replace Conor Hourihane and Anwar El Ghazi, who are both named among the substitutes, while the Villans name the same back five for the fourth consecutive league game.

Aston Villa XI:Heaton; Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett; McGinn, Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, Trezeguet, Grealish; Wesley.

Subs:Steer, Taylor, Davis, Konsa, Lansbury, Hourihane, El Ghazi.

Posted at 10:2810:28

Seventh heaven

Rex FeaturesCopyright: Rex Features

Played 7. Won 7.

What a brilliant week for Premier League clubs in the Champions League and the Europa League.

Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Wolves, Manchester United and Arsenal all won…scoring 21 goals in the process and conceding just five.

Two of the seven are in action today – with the other five playing tomorrow.

SUNDAY’S GAMES

Newcastle v Wolves 14:00 GMT

Arsenal v Crystal Palace 16:30 GMT

Liverpool v Tottenham 16:30 GMT

Norwich v Man Utd 16:30 GMT

Posted at 10:2510:25

Hospital pass

Man City v Aston Villa (12:30 BST)

.Copyright: .

One player not involved for Manchester City today is Oleksandr Zinchenko.

The Ukraine defender, who has played seven times for the champions this season, is facing up to six weeks on the sidelines after having knee surgery.

It is another blow for City, who are already without centre-back Aymeric Laporte with a long-term injury.

In a further blow, midfielder Rodri, who had moved to defence, is also out after suffering a hamstring injury in midweek.

Who will be lining up in City’s defence? Full team news coming up in around five minutes.

Posted at 10:2210:22

Will it be raining goals at the Etihad?

Man City v Aston Villa (12:30 BST)

Chris Bevan

BBC Sport at Etihad Stadium

It’s fair to say it is extremely wet at the Etihad, where I think everyone is in for a very soggy afternoon.

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith and Jack Grealish (with his hood up to protect those trademark locks) have just been out to inspect the pitch which, like the rest of Manchester, has certainly seen enough water in the past 24 hours.

It could be raining goals later too – even after Leicester’s record-equalling haul last night, City are still the highest scorers in the Premier League in 2019-20 with 29, while there have been an average of more than three goals (at either end) in every Villa game this season.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Read More